Midnight ‘bonfires’ in Thalambur: air quality compromised due to garbage being set on fire

Often times, a problem never really leaves, let alone leave bag and baggage, just lingers around with a different and unrecognised face. It usually shifts its base to a nearby address, but returns to its old haunt with a vengeance taking on a virulent form, yet going unnoticed.

Ashok Rajendran, a resident of DABC Orchid in Polachery, has noticed this pattern play out in neighbouring Thalambur. 

Based on his observations, a garbage dumping site in Thalambur was removed following protests from residents of large gated communities within whiffing distance of the recurring mucky mass. It was removed to a patch behind Agni College of Engineering, also in Thalambur, which marks the last outpost of the locality. Beyond this, addresses go under Polachery, Ponmar and Ottiyambakkam. 

Every time the residents of those gated communities in Thalambur heave a sigh of relief at the memory of the dump leaving their vicinity, they could be breathing in a draught of polluted air wafting in from that very dump, now relocated to this new patch. He derives this conclusion from his own experience. 

Ashok notes that around midnight, this dump is set to fire, and when the wind blows in the direction of his high-rise apartment in Polachery, he could smell the smoke rising from the burning garbage pile. 

Ashok admits to being unable to define the periodicity of the fires from this dump, but is certain the burning happens late in the night, and the effect can be felt in the wee hours. 

Besides, at all times, one could see smouldering fire in the dump, underlines Ashok. Around this patch, pylons rear high, supporting a high-tension power cable network. 

Another unpalatable sight from his high-rise apartment is of garbage being set on fire in Ottiyambakkam. This is a distant view, notes Ashok, but clear as day, he can see fire and smoke rising at a garbage dump behind the Ottiyambakkam quarry.

In these panchayat-governed outlying areas off Old Mahabalipuram Road, coming under Chengalpattu district, poor waste management is an everyday reality. The advantage that comes from relatively lower automobile concentration is squandered away, the air being polluted by garbage fires, many of them happening in local civic body-instituted dump sites. 

Not a first-time fire 

Bernice Jacinth, a professional in the IT industry, regularly documents garbage fires, particularly those happening in dump sites created by local panchayats. 

Recently, she sent in images of smoke rising from a dump site instituted by Sithalapakkam panchayat on Mambakkam-Medavakkam Main Road, and this is not the first time she has witnessed a fire at that site.

Ashok notes that in outlying areas around OMR, massive apartments proliferate and unless these bulk waste generators manage much of their waste in situ, the garbage problem will keep getting out of hand.