A view of Perungudi dump yard. File
The State government is considering involving Anna University to study the waste that has seeped into the ground at the Perungudi dump yard. This comes amid a tussle over who must own the reclaimed land after biomining.
Greater Chennai Corporation has already roped in the university as the project management consultant for the biomining. They were, therefore, partnered for the study, stated a senior official in the civic body.
S. Kanmani, Professor and Director of the Centre for Environmental Studies at Anna University said that the government plans to conduct a feasibility study on sub-surface biomining at dumpsite. “The State needs to assess the quantity and depth, which may vary according to the area, up to six or eight meters,” she said.
According to her, technical data must be generated from the preliminary stage, as this has not been done before. This study will be undertaken soon.
Other sources at the varsity mentioned that an official letter is yet to arrive from the government and that the study may take at least six months to be completed.
Reclaimed land
The Greater Chennai Corporation Council approved a resolution in November that dropped the plan for an eco-park that was planned in the reclaimed land in Perungudi dumpyard.
Regional Deputy Commissioner (South) M.P. Amith, at the AVPN South Asia Summit 2024 on Monday, announced that the State is mulling to make the reclaimed land part of the Ramsar site i.e. the adjoining Pallikaranai marshland.
Deepak Srivastava, Member Secretary of the Tamil Nadu State Wetland Authority, told The Hindu that the entire 1,247.5 hectares of the Pallikaranai marsh, including the institutions and the dumpyard, has already been declared a Ramsar site. “The Ramsar site covers the entire area. The reclaimed land, where an eco-park was previously planned by the Corporation but later dropped, will now be added to the forest area. All of this is already part of the Ramsar site,” he said.
Notably, in January, the Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed the Corporation to furnish a report on the land reclaimed so far and hand over the land, as and when reclaimed, to the Forest Department. “We only direct the GCC to find out an alternative place and allow the marshland to be restored to its original condition,” the Bench had said.
When asked about this, the GCC official stated that the Chennai Corporation had replied to the NGT stating that the land would continue to be under the civic body.
“The GCC has no plans to hand over the land. There are plans to set up six waste-to-energy units like a bio-CNG plant, mega automated material recovery facility, infra to biomine fresh waste etc. After the study, it will be maintained as a marsh by the Corporation,” the official added.
Published – December 10, 2024 04:20 am IST
