TNPCB inspects Adyar river over biomed waste pile

Chennai: A day after TOI reported the rampant dumping of biomedical waste on the bund of Adyar river between Anakaputhur and Thiruneermalai, officials from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) along with Thiruneermalai town panchayat officers, inspected the river bed on Wednesday.
According to officials, the inspection began around 10am on the service road along the river bund between Anakaputhur and Thiruneermalai, where heaps of biomedical waste were dumped.
Officials have contacted the Pallavaram municipality officials, under whose limits the area falls, to take immediate steps to clear the garbage. “We will see to it that such dumping on the river bed is prevented henceforth,” said an official with Thiruneermalai town panchayat. Residents say dumping of biomedical waste is also rampant in Thiruneermalai lake, which is already polluted with sewage from Madras Economic Special Zone (MEPZ) and residential complexes.
Meanwhile, officials of Anakaputhur municipality too have acted on a TOI report published on July 24 about dumping of garbage on Adyar river bed under Anakaputhur bridge along Pammal Main Road. “For the past two days, municipality workers have been clearing the garbage,” said R Mohan Raj, a resident. Two weeks ago, Mohan Raj had intercepted a load van carrying waste. The van driver told the resident that the waste was from companies on OMR, but claimed that they were not there to dump waste.
Municipality officials said they have also dismantled the makeshift wooden cage under the bridge used to lock up pigs that feed on the sewer let on to the Adyar river bed. “We cleared the structure and informed police personnel to keep a watch if the miscreants attempt to lock up the animals again,” an Anakaputhu muncipality official said. There are two police booths on either end of the Anakaputhur bridge.