REPORT

ON

KODUNGAIYUR WASTE DUMPING YARD: A PROOF

OF INDURATE HUMANBEINGS

7-MARCH-2011
Acknowledgement:-

Ever Vigilant Citizens Welfare Association

Written by :- Harsh raizada (harsh.raizada11@gmail.com)

Sudeshna De (sudeshna4ya@gmail.com)

Cover photo from Kodungaiyur Waste Dumping yard.

INTRODUCTION:-

Kodungaiyur is mainly a residential locality in northern most part of the metropolitan city
of Chennai, Tamil Nadu , India. The area of Chennai Corporation starts from here. (Ward
No: 1& 2 out of 155 are located in Kodungaiyur). Kodungaiyur covers a vast area bordering
Selavayal & Chinna sekkaadu to the north, Ezhil Nagar to the east, Arul Nagar (Madhavaram
Milk Colony) to the west, Moolakadai to the southwest and MKB Nagar(Vysarpadi)to the
south. National Highway 5(NH 5) touches this area in southwest at Moolakadai.

According to the Corporation of Chennai, per capita solid waste generation is about 500gms
per day and the total estimated solid waste generation of Chennai is 3200 MTs per day
(1)
.This garbage consists primarily of organic waste, different kinds of plastics, packaging
waste, paper, metal, glass, construction debris, bio-medical waste and slaughter house waste.
To dump this solid waste, Chennai Corporation is using two dumping yards; one is at
Kodungaiyur and another is at the Perungudi. Among these two places Kodungaiyur is the
major and biggest dumping yard spreading over 400-450 acre of land where the garbage
from north and central Chennai are being dumped here , whereas the garbageof south
Chennai are dumped in Perungudi.

Kodungaiyur dumping yard is an illegal waste disposal site, which is a marshy land with a
land use expectancy of maximum up to 2015, the total number of years in use being 25
years, Located adjacent to the Kodungaiyur sewage treatment plant on the southern margins
of flood prone alluvial lowlands of Korattalaiyar River, the area is primarily residential with
the population of more than 100,000 people. According to the Chennai Corporation map
the land is depicted as being used for the institutional area but basically this land is
being used as a dumping yard since 1985 as said by N.S.RamchandraRao, the president
of Ever Vigilant Citizen Association, who is a resident of that area. Kannadasannagar,
Krishnamoorthynagar, Ezhilnagar and Rajarathannagar are some of the colonies which are
situated on the fringe of the dumping ground and are the worst affected.

ISSUES:-
According to Ramchandra Rao, he and the other local residents are dealing with fetid smell,
toxic and irritating fumes of garbage burning from past 15 years. Unsanitary conditions at
the dump yard have made it an ideal breeding ground for flies and pests. Illegal bio-medical
waste dumping has Mosquitoes in evening are uncontrollable even after closing every doors
and windows of the house and also by using various repellents and insecticides. Because of
the leachate from the garbage, the ground water quality is also very poor in that area. People
living there are left with no choice but to accept that they have to drink and use that water.
According to the“THE HINDU”, published on Feb 04, 2008, air samples were taken from
the yard on January 22, 2007 and analyzed by Colombia laboratory services in California
that revealed the presence of 33 noxious gases, five of which are carcinogenic. Most of the
residents have a problem of cough, cold, flies and fear of malaria. Sometimes the situation
becomes so bad that schools in the vicinity are bound to declare holidays due to the toxic
gases and the fetid smell around.
“This dump violates site guidelines. The government never got permission from the Tamil
Nadu Pollution Control Board to operate or discharge waste here … Kodungaiyur is a
political solution. It dumps the waste of the city on the poor,” as told by Nityanand
Jayaraman, Advisor of Community Environmental Monitoring (2).
According to the Chennai corporation site, around 160 compost bin structures have been
constructed at various wards in various zones to process the segregated organic waste but
still no one is properly following these rules and Kodungaiyur dumping zone is receiving
tons of mixed garbage daily. Now this situation is getting worse year by year. Now-a-days,
this place is also receiving hazardous waste from the city hospitals, including human body
parts, used syringes and bloodied gauze. According to Ganga, a rag picker who sells plastic
and rubber collected from the trash, she has seen chunks of flesh and even dead babies lying
among the mass of syringes, medicine bottles, and blood-soaked cotton and they are
scavenged by dogs and crows(3). In this way, Rule 1.4 and 1.8 of collection of municipal solid
waste under Schedule II of Municipal Solid Waste Handling Rules are being violated every
day(4).

Health of the inhabitants there has suffered a serious blow due to the constant assault of
chemicals from the dumping ground. Respiratory tract disorders are abnormally high
especially among children. According to the residents, the instances of cancer are on the rise
but due to the absence of any regular health monitoring substantiating figures is difficult.
Ramachandra Rao, is himself suffering from various eye and skin problems.

An air quality monitoring has been done on 23rd August,2006 at Kodungaiyur by Community
Environmental Monitoring (CEM),which showed, a total of 9 chemicals were detected in the
ambient air and 5 of them were above the USEPA Region 6 levels(5). Of the 5 chemicals that
exceeded the permissible limits, 3 are known to cause cancer in humans and animals. Many
factors like the wind direction, climate and transit delay impact the concentration of the
chemicals in the sample. The only factor that could influence the pollutants in the air would
be the composition of garbage that is burnt. Street-side open garbage dumping and burning
in Chennai should be alarming both for the common citizen and the policy makers, which is
again violation of Rule 1.7 of collection of municipal solid waste under Schedule II of
Municipal Solid Waste Handling Rules, 2000. Toxic material such as Poly Vinyl Chloride
(PVC) and other plastics, solvents and metals contribute to the toxicity of the air. However,
these chemicals are impossible to destroy completely and can damage the environment and
human health at levels as low as a few parts per billion cubic meters of air.

The issue at hand needs immediate attention and a durable solution as most of these
chemicals like Carbon Disulphide, Acetone, 2-Butanone, Toluene etc, found in the air
analysis, either target the central nervous system, the respiratory system, the cardio vascular
system, the reproductive system or major organs of the body like the liver and kidneys.
Chemicals like Chloromethane, Benzene, 1,4-Dichlorobenzene are even known to cause
cancer in humans and animals. Moreover, this is important to mention that the area is
densely populated (more than 100,000 population) which is violation of Rule 8 and 9 of site
selection criteria under Schedule III of Municipal Solid Waste Handling Rules, 2000(4).

According to the “THE HINDU” August 18, 2010, The Expert Appraisal Committee of the
Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has recommended to the Ministry that clearance
could be accorded for the integrated solid waste management project at Kodungaiyur dump
yard. The Chennai Corporation, which has proposed the project, is likely to receive the
clearance in few days, but nothing has been done till date.

SOLUTION:-
Kodungaiyur is an ecologically sensitive area. It is one of the few remaining natural
marshlands in Chennai. Main solution to this problem is; new land should be allocated for
dumping the garbage which will be far from human inhabitation, and also the garbage should
be segregated with the modern techniques according to the ward or zone because it is quite
feasible to treat 2 ton garbage in every ward in spite of treating 3200 MTs garbage
cumulatively at Kodungaiyur. Moreover, policy level interventions should be imposed on
materials like plastics, which have to be phased out, and replaced with eco friendly products.
Hazardous products (like batteries, PVC, pesticide and chemical containers) using toxic
substances should be returned to the producer.
Various awareness programmes should be done for the common citizen of Chennai to
enhance the knowledge about the side-effect of waste, waste management techniques. These
programmes should also convey the message about the problems faced by the people who
are living near the garbage dumping yards; after all they are humanbeings and we should
help them to live a clean and healthy life.
The health of Kodungaiyur residents, particularly the children, is seriously compromised.
The Corporation must pay for a comprehensive health study and medical treatment and
rehabilitation for affected persons.

Waste segregation at source can solve a major part of the waste management problem. Non-
biodegradable substances should be separated from kitchen and garden waste at home.
Collection, treatment and disposal of Biodegradable and Non-biodegradable garbage should
be done separately. Organic wastes should be composted at household levels. The
Corporation of Chennai has exceeded the 2001 deadline laid by the Central Govt. for safe
handling and disposal of municipal solid waste by 5 years(6). The Act clearly mandates
segregation of garbage at source i.e. at the household level also requires the local bodies to
educate citizens on waste segregation. The Corporation should take citizen awareness
programmes on waste segregation.The Rules are also required for the local civic bodies not
to collect unsegregated garbage and prohibited burning of any kind of garbage.

CONCLUSION:-
In spite of having all the headlines in the newspapers like” garbage burning returns to plague
Kodungaiyur residents”, Thursday, May 17, 2007, “Kodungaiyur residents protest garbage
dumping”, Monday, Jan28, 2008, “a dump yard sets resident fuming”, Monday, February 4,
2008 and last but not the least “Hospital waste renders Kodungaiyur hazardous”, February
12th, 2010;the situation is getting worse day by day and nobody is doing anything. Progress
seems only in papers, and the people near the Kodungaiyur dumping ground are still
struggling everyday to live a healthy and clean life.
Even after all the interventions and ifs n buts, the need of the hour is to draw attention of
every citizen of Chennai towards the pathetic living conditions of residents in Kodungaiyur.
Until everybody realizes the situation of their own city folks, no intervention or management
will work for them.

REFERENCE:-
1) Corporation of Chennai, solid waste management
department,http://www.chennaicorporation.gov.in/departments/solid-waste-
management/index.htm
2) http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/04/stories/2008020460040300.htm
3) http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/28/stories/2008012858830500.htm
4) Schedule II and III of Municipal Solid Waste Handling Rules 2000, Govt. of India
5) http://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6pd/rcra_c/pd-n/screen.htm
6) http://www.sipcotcuddalore.com/downloads/choking_in_garbage_II.pdf