The century-old-dream of Saduperi residents to keep their area clean and not use it as a dumping ground became a reality on Thursday after the Vellore Corporation’s garbage dump yard was closed as per an order of the southern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in Chennai.
Vellore:
The announcement brought a big relief for the residents, especially the women, who were the most affected. Corporation health officials locked the gates to the dump yard. Saduperi, situated on the outskirts of the town on the Vellore-Bangalore National Highway, is also a drinking water source for the corporation.
The lake’s bund, which comes under 6 survey numbers, was used as a garbage dump yard for over a century. What irked the locals the threat of the lake water due to its proximity to the garbage yard.
“Our main complaint was that garbage heaps posed a danger of seeping into the soil and contaminating the lake water,” said Andal (42), a local resident.
“In addition to the mounting garbage, there was stench always in our area making life miserable for locals,” said P Munusamy (62), a resident of Saduperi for the last 25 years.
“Saduperi was used as a dump yard for more than a century and nearly, 200 tonnes of garbage arrive at this yard every day from different parts of the Fort City, which spread over 7 km,” officials said.
Locals started agitating against the corporation from September 2015 demanding to stop dumping garbage at Saduperi. They also moved the NGT seeking a direction to shut the yard on November 21, 2016.
“The yard has been shut and the garbage that was so far sent to Saduperi will be taken to 36 units, which convert garbage into fertilizers, in various wards. Every day around 165 tonnes are processed.
Efforts are also under way to add 6 more units within a week, at an estimated Rs 3 crore to convert 30 more tonnes,” a corporation official said. “In addition to the above, 4 small conversion units are also planned.
When these become operational, they will be able to handle the remaining 20 tonnes of garbage and thus Vellore corporation will become the first civic body in the state to successfully convert garbage into fertilizer,” he added.