Dump yard to be turned into Burial site in Kodungaiyar, Chennai

Chennai, July 09: The city corporation has ordered the dump yard which a 9 acre land in Kodungaiyar to be turned into a burial site.

The residents living in the area have been fighting to get the area cleaned for 25 years along with protesting to shift the stinking and sprawling dump yard from their neighborhood.

“According to Solid Waste Management and Handling Rules, 2000, a dumpyard should not be located in residential or institutional area. Also, pure air is the basic right of every citizen. But the Corporation has violated all rules,” charged NS Ramachandra Rao, president of the Ever Vigilant Citizens Welfare Association which has been fighting for the shifting of the yard, reports The New Indian Express.

Despite such laws, the corporation failed to help the populace and is now turning the site into a burial ground. The New Indian Express also reports that, “earlier, when we had requested the Corporation to allocate this piece of land for a Moffusil Bus Stand for buses plying towards Nellore, they replied that the land was to be used for developmental activities,” said N S Ramachandra Rao, President of Ever Vigilant Citizens Welfare Association.

Residents are disagreeing and upset by the idea of burying the bodies of their kith and kin next to a dumping site which collects nearly 2,300 MT of garbage.

The corporation’s move comes in the wake of increased demand for a new burial site for which the search began since 2015.

Currently, there is only one crematorium in Kodungaiyur area which is majorly used by the Hindu community. Hence, the Corporation has dicided the burial ground to be set up in Kodungaiyur into three zones – for Muslims, Christians and Hindus.