CHENNAI: A private lorry was spotted discharging sewage in a vacant land at Siruniam village near Red Hills in Tiruvallur district, adjacent to national highway 16, at 1.30pm on Wednesday.
V Pugalvendhan, a civic activist, shot a video of the violation and spoke to the driver who said, “We discharge here regularly.” Pugalvendhan later complained to Metrowater and the Tiruvallur collector before the lorry was seized. A Metrowater engineer told TOI the area where the sewage was discharged didn’t come under the agency’s jurisdiction but the vehicle number was used to check the GPS system. “It was not registered with us. But we tracked it and called the owner. We seized it and also imposed a penalty of ₹25,000.”
Metrowater managing director R Kirlosh Kumar said about 300 lorries in Chennai had registered with the agency and are regularly tracked using GPS. “Another 50 have to come forward. We will get them registered too. In Chennai, illegal discharge of sewage has almost stopped.”
The block development officer of Sholavaram panchayat under which Siruniam comes didn’t respond to TOI’s calls, as did TNRDC officials incharge of that section of Chennai Outer Ring Road.
Pugalvendhan said police were patrolling nearby when the incident occurred, but they didn’t even question the lorry driver.
RVS Suresh, a resident of Ponneri, said Red hills didn’t have sewage connections and people there depended on private lorries.
Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.