Act on medical waste dumping from Kerala, BJP tells govt

Chennai: Tamil Nadu BJP chief Nainar Nagenthran on Thursday claimed that the ruling TVK was hardly taking any steps to prevent neighbouring Kerala from dumping hazardous biomedical waste on Tenkasi district’s fertile lands.

Taking strong exception to the state government for allegedly being “lax” on the issue, the BJP state chief said the administration has remained a mute spectator while border districts are turned into a dumping ground.

“The tragedy of tons of hazardous medical waste brought from Kerala being dumped and burned in the agricultural lands and open spaces of Tenkasi district is becoming a recurring story. Despite bottles and toxic waste printed with ‘For sale in Kerala only’ lying in plain sight as evidence, the TVK government led by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay is unable to monitor the border checkposts,” Nagenthran said on X.

Highlighting Kerala’s strict border checks, he questioned how the Tamil Nadu police and the government could allow such negligence. He urged CM Vijay to take up the matter directly with his Kerala counterpart, intensify border surveillance, seize vehicles smuggling the waste, and book offenders under Goondas Act.

He stated that this menace continued not only in Tenkasi but also in all border districts. Tenkasi is around 640 kms from Chennai.

“Who knows what more will be unleashed by this regime that is poisoning the agricultural lands and turning Tamil Nadu into Kerala’s garbage dump. At least now, stop this lax approach, and talk to the Kerala Chief Minister and put an end to this issue immediately,” the BJP leader said.

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