Residents of Velapadi village protest against garbage dumping on irrigation tank, block Arani-Vandavasi Road

Residents of Velapadi village protest against garbage dumping on vital irrigation tank, leading to road blockage and police intervention.

Residents of Velapadi village near Arani town in Tiruvannamalai blocked the Arani-Vandavasi Main Road on Tuesday against dumping of garbage on the irrigation tank in the village. 

The residents said the irrigation tank, spread over 150 acres, remains the lifeline for farmers in at least eight villages, including Velapadi, Samanthavadi, Kalpoondi, Meyyur, and Iyyampalayam that come under Arani taluk, to irrigate farmlands at least twice a year. During summer, the tank, which still has water in it, helps to recharge ground water and retains water level in wells in these villages. The tank also helps farmers to earn supplement income by way of fishing in the waterbody.

Local bodies like Velapadi panchayat have also sunk deep borewells on the bund of the tank to draw water for its residents. “ The waterbody has been turned into an open dump yard by the municipality, which is 2.5 km away from Velapadi village. Many times, conservancy workers of the civic body also burn the waste dumped on the bund of the tank,” said K. Perumal, a resident.

Municipal officials said that every day , around 21 metric tonnes of garbage are generated within the municipality, which comprises 33 wards with around 82,000 persons. At present, the civic body has a landfill site in Velapadi village for many years. “Lack of a permanent compost yard within town limits remains a key challenge in handling enormous wastes generated by the civic body. The district administration has allotted five acres of land for the municipality to run a compost yard,” A. Saravanan, commissioner, Arani municipality, told The Hindu.

However, municipal officials said that the land allocated by the district administration is located around 30 km away from Arani town. Transporting accumulated garbage from the town to the new compost yard will be expensive for the civic body, which already faces financial strain in its budget. Another challenge was that the hotels and restaurants, which generate more than 100 kg of waste daily also give it to the municipality for source segregation.

The villagers said that they have been petitioning municipal officials against dumping of garbage in the irrigation tank. Also, smoke from garbage burning affects residents especially children and senior citizens in the village. As a result, they blocked the stretch on Tuesday.

Based on an alert from conservancy workers of the municipality, Arani taluk police and civic officials reached the spot and pacified the agitated residents. Municipal officials removed dumped garbage on the lake using earthmovers and other vehicles. They also assured that dumping of waste will not occur again. Traffic was affected for more than an hour on the route before police dispersed the crowd.