Row over dumping of garbage in forest area

A vehicle of the Meppadi grama panchayat
dumping garbage inside the Attamala forest area.
—Photo: E.M. Manoj

The Forest Department and the Meppadi grama panchayat are locking horns over the dumping of garbage in the Attamala reserve forest area of the Meppadi forest range under the South Wayanad forest division.

The panchayat authorities have been dumping garbage after collecting it from Meppadi town and the nearby small towns under the panchayat inside the forest at Attamala for more than a decade, sources in the Forest Department says.

Though forest officials had reasoned with the panchayat authorities for the past many years to stop the practice, they were yet to respond positively, the sources added. The ‘dumping yard’ of the panchayat on the banks of a small stream, a tributary of the Chaliyar river, was posing a serious threat to the wildlife habitats and the waterbodies in the area. Poultry waste, disposable plastic glasses and plates, and rotten vegetables and watermelons were being heaped in the area.

“The panchayat authorities dump waste everyday, except on holidays,” K. Mathew, a villager, said. He added that wild herbivores, including elephants, boars, and sambar deer, could be seen feeding on the garbage and it created many health issues among them. The practice also contaminated the waterbodies in the area, especially during monsoon, and the fumes arising from burning the garbage polluted the serenity of the area, he added. Though the forest officials had erected a billboard prohibiting waste-dumping in the area at the entrance to the forest a few months ago as per the direction of Forest Minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar, the panchayat authorities seemed to have taken no notice of it, the sources added.

‘We are planning to take stringent actions against the authorities to stop the illegal activities, as per the Kerala Forest Act, 1961,” P. Dhaneshkumar, South Wayanad divisional forest officer, told The Hindu . But Ancy Baby, president, Meppadi grama panchayat, said they were forced to continue the practice owing to non-availability of land to dispose of garbage. The panchayat had identified land at Chooralmala, near here, to set up a dumping yard and its acquisition process was under way, she added.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/row-over-dumping-of-garbage-in-forest-area/article4549582.ece