Medical waste in Chennai burned by men claiming to be municipal workers
- Shruti Sundar Ray
- Nov 19, 2019
- 2 min read
Updated: May 28, 2020
Officers of the Poonamallee Municipality and the Block Development Office remained unsure of whose jurisdiction the dumping site falls under
Medical waste, dumped in a cricket ground in Bakthavathsalam Nagar in Poonamallee near the Chennai Outer Ring Road, was burned in an open fire on Tuesday morning by men claiming to be Municipality sanitation workers.
When asked about the medical waste in the area, officers of the Poonamallee Municipality claimed that although they were aware of the problem, they could not do anything as the impugned site was outside their jurisdiction. “The ground comes in the Nazarethpettai Village Panchayat and falls under the authority of the Block Development Office,” said Mubarak Pasha, a manager at the Poonamallee Municipality office.
For their part, the officials at the Block Development Office, Poonamallee were unaware of both the dumping and the burning of the medical waste. T Shanthi, the Scheme Block Development Officer, said, “After checking the exact location and seeing if it is under Village Panchayat or Municipality, action will be taken.”
Heaps of medical waste had been dumped by unknown persons overnight and were found by some residents on Sunday in the empty ground in Poonamallee. The ground, which is frequented by driving school instructors and is used by locals to play cricket on weekends, has become a regular dumping site for all kinds of municipal waste.
On Tuesday morning, over five sacks full of tablet packets had been separated out from the disposed waste and kept aside, purportedly for inspection, while the rest of the medical waste including syrup bottles, syringes, medical tapes, and containers of all sizes were burned at the dumping site.
“We are not sure of any burning activity at the site,” said K Sivabalan, Director of Drugs Control at the Tamil Nadu Drugs Control Department. He added that he had issued office orders instructing the assistant directors in the State to ensure that pharmaceutical manufacturers adhere to rules for safe disposal of expired drugs.
Rafique, who was present at the site during the burning and claimed to be a sanitation worker for the Municipality, explained that usually the area would have only normal domestic waste but once a year, there would be dumping of medical waste. He explained that since such illegal dumping occurred in the middle of the night, it was impossible to tell who was responsible.
Although the burning of the medical waste filled the air with toxic smoke that had a distinct chemical smell, many of the locals in the area remained oblivious to the health hazards. Karpagham, who runs a nearby tea stall, acknowledged that the ground was used for dumping waste but was happy that the site was closer to the highway bypass road and away from the residential area. Burning of waste would happen only once in a while, she added.
Cows were also seen feeding from the materials at the dumping site, including from the medical waste. The burning of the waste was followed by rainfall in the area, spreading run-off from the site into the neighbouring streets and drains.
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