People living in Vaniyambadi, a town near Tirupattur in Tamil Nadu, recently took matters into their own hands. They stopped trucks that were carrying leather waste from tanneries, which were allegedly trying to dump the waste illegally near lakes and rivers on the town’s outskirts.
Residents have been worried for a long time. They say leather waste, especially hides from tanneries, is being dumped in open areas and nearby rivers like Kallar and Chinna Palar.
These rivers feed into the Palar, a major water source. This dumping is polluting the groundwater and turning open plots into mosquito breeding grounds, which threatens the health of children and elderly people.
“Most of such illegal dumping occurs during mid-night to evade notice of residents and social activists in the area. Lack of routine patrol by local police also makes such lorry drivers make frequent trips to open lands to dump wastes,”
Mohammed Arif, Resident
On Thursday, locals saw trucks loaded with leather waste along the Chennai-Bengaluru Highway (NH 44). They blocked the vehicles, which were reportedly heading toward a lake.
Police from Vaniyambadi Town arrived quickly and found that the trucks were carrying hides and other tannery waste.
An initial inquiry showed that eight trucks came from private tanneries in Ambur. Drivers admitted that dumping waste in open lands had been happening for months.
They claimed this was due to a lack of proper waste treatment facilities, especially in small-scale tanneries. Drivers said they were paid Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,000 per trip to dump the waste at night.
Residents pointed out that Vaniyambadi is surrounded by farming villages that grow crops in three seasons every year. Borewells and water bodies in the area supply water to these villages. Illegal dumping has already polluted groundwater and harmed farming.
After calming the angry residents, the police let them go home peacefully. Officials from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) later said that special teams would be created to watch over how tanneries manage their waste.
TNPCB also explained that the leather-making region includes Ranipet, Walajah, Vellore, Ambur, and Vaniyambadi, which has about 40% of all tanneries in the region. Many of these factories use thermal energy, which adds to pollution. Small tanneries often dump waste illegally because they can’t afford recycling costs.
Source – The Hindu
