Chennai suburb residents wake up to toxic fumes after garbage catches fire at transfer station

CHENNAI: Pallavaram residents woke up to toxic fumes on Tuesday after trash at a garbage transfer station there, along the 200-feet radial road, caught fire.

Municipality officials said the garbage, consisting of both bio-degradable and non-biodegradable waste, caught fire at 3 am on Tuesday. "It came to our knowledge only at 4:30 am. We doused the flames by 10:45 am with the help of eight fire engines," said a municipality official.

The toxic fumes led to many people who lived in the vicinity coughing and choking, causing a severe health hazard. While the municipality authorities claimed that it was due to summer heat, residents questioned how such massive flames could come up at 3 am.

Activists alleged that since a popular garment store was coming up just behind the garbage transfer station, this attempt was made to remove the waste from here somehow. "Previously, they dumped heaps of waste from this station into the Putteri Lake nearby. Now, they have burned the remaining waste. There is foul play," alleged David Manohar, a civic activist.

Many residents living along the boundaries of this transfer station believe that the municipality failed to remove all the waste through authentic segregation and instead chose to burn and dump it elsewhere. Regarding the transfer station, there is even a pending case in the National Green Tribunal on how the municipality struggles to handle waste in the station.

However, officials claimed that they were efficiently handling waste as they have a dump yard 24 km away from the city. "This is only a natural event," said an official. On Tuesday, the incident was brought to the attention of Municipal Administration Secretary Harmander Singh, and the Chengalpet Collector John Louis also visited the spot. Months ago, garbage allegedly from this transfer station was dumped in a nearby lake, causing massive pollution.