It has been over 16 years since the Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules were passed. But the panchayats in the district are yet to process and manage waste efficiently.
Barring a handful of panchayats such as Irugur, Madukkarai, Periyanaickenpalayam and Sulur, most are yet to finalize on the land to set up their compost yard.
On one hand, while the civic body is taking several steps to manage its waste and ensure the efficient working of its dump yard, the rural areas still face several challenges and continue to dump waste in wetlands and quarries. Officials stated lack of cooperation, availability of land and labour shortage for the failure in management of solid waste.
Recently, residents of Annur town panchayat caught sanitary workers dumping waste into Allikulam and protested against the panchayat officials who managed to convince them that in future waste would be processed and not dumped. Annur was among the seven town panchayats which got funds to set up a solid waste management compost yard. 50lakh was sanctioned but Annur town panchayat failed to identify land for the project. "We had identified land but since it was stuck in legal dispute, we are looking for an alternative," said Ganesh Ram, executive officer of Annur town panchayat.
Meanwhile, 14 other panchayats received funds and are in the process of setting up a compost unit. However, activists say that no work has begun in any of the panchayats. S Bharathidasan of Arulagam, an NGO, said that most of the panchayats had allotted lands near wetlands, quarries or water bodies. "The government should ensure that land near water bodies are not used as solid waste management sites," he said.
K Mohanraj, another city environmentalist said that whenever they cleaned up forest temples and other forest locations, they were not sure how to dispose off the waste. "On two occassions, the waste we handed over to the nearest panchayat was just dumped into lakes and streams," said Mohanraj. But district administration said the reason for this was lack of cooperation from people and lack of adequate resources.
Barring a handful of panchayats such as Irugur, Madukkarai, Periyanaickenpalayam and Sulur, most are yet to finalize on the land to set up their compost yard.
On one hand, while the civic body is taking several steps to manage its waste and ensure the efficient working of its dump yard, the rural areas still face several challenges and continue to dump waste in wetlands and quarries. Officials stated lack of cooperation, availability of land and labour shortage for the failure in management of solid waste.
Recently, residents of Annur town panchayat caught sanitary workers dumping waste into Allikulam and protested against the panchayat officials who managed to convince them that in future waste would be processed and not dumped. Annur was among the seven town panchayats which got funds to set up a solid waste management compost yard. 50lakh was sanctioned but Annur town panchayat failed to identify land for the project. "We had identified land but since it was stuck in legal dispute, we are looking for an alternative," said Ganesh Ram, executive officer of Annur town panchayat.
Meanwhile, 14 other panchayats received funds and are in the process of setting up a compost unit. However, activists say that no work has begun in any of the panchayats. S Bharathidasan of Arulagam, an NGO, said that most of the panchayats had allotted lands near wetlands, quarries or water bodies. "The government should ensure that land near water bodies are not used as solid waste management sites," he said.
K Mohanraj, another city environmentalist said that whenever they cleaned up forest temples and other forest locations, they were not sure how to dispose off the waste. "On two occassions, the waste we handed over to the nearest panchayat was just dumped into lakes and streams," said Mohanraj. But district administration said the reason for this was lack of cooperation from people and lack of adequate resources.