Tirunelveli: A day after Kerala officials inspected the biomedical waste dumped in various areas in Tamil Nadu's Nellai district, efforts were initiated to remove it on Sunday.
As per the order of the National Green Tribunal, the work of taking back the waste to Kerala began this morning and more than 20 officials, including Assistant Collector of Thiruvananthapuram district and Health Officer had come to Nellai. They held consultations with Tamil Nadu officials at a government school in Nadukallur and then divided into various groups for loading the waste dumped at Nadukallur, Kodakakanallur and Melathidiyur areas onto trucks.
The waste is being loaded on trucks by using a JCB machine for being transported to Kerala, officials said. Tamil Nadu Police have been ordered to monitor the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border to ensure that the waste reaches Kerala.
Tons of waste dumped
The issue of tons of hazarduous biomedical waste being dumped in Nadukallur, Kodakakanallur and Kondanagaram near Nellai after being transported from Kerala, had shocked Tamil Nadu. Two persons, Manohar (51) and Mayandi (42) from Suttamalli area in Nellai district, were arrested on December 19 in this connection.
The southern region of National Green Tribunal ordered the Kerala government to remove the illegally dumped medical waste within three days. The Tirunelveli district administration collected some pharmaceutical documents and handed it over to the Green Tribunal to confirm that the dumped medical waste was from the Thiruvananthapuram Cancer Centre and a private hospital.
Inspection by Kerala officials
On the orders of the Green Tribunal, a team of eight officials led by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board chief engineer Pinsi Ahmed and health officer Kobakumar conducted a physical inspection at seven places in Nellai district yesterday and held a meeting with district collector Karthikeyan.
Two more arrested
Three additional cases have been registered under a total of six sections. Based on information provided by the two arrested persons during interrogation, the police arrested more two persons, Chelladurai from Salem district and Jithan George from a private company in Kerala State Medical Waste Management, yesterday. Also, police seized the lorry after confirming that it was used for transporting and dumping medical waste.
Read more
