Second report by Justice Dr. P. Jyothimani led Monitoring Committee on solid waste management implementation in Tamil Nadu relating to Udamandalam and Gudalur dated 24/05/2021.

The matter related to disposal of solid waste in Theetukkal village of Udagamandalam Municipality and waste dumped at Kuruthukuly, Chalukkudi of Padanthurai village in Gudalur, Udagamandalam district.

When the Committee visited the Theetukkal dump site, the District Forest Officer informed the committee that originally the Udagamandalam Municipality was permitted to use 5 acres of reserve forest land at Theetukkal on lease basis for processing solid waste generated and collected from the municipal area and the period of lease had already expired in the year 2012. Further, in addition to 5 acres, the Udagamandalam Municipality had started using more than 10 acres in the same survey number without any permission and as on date 15 acres of forest land was being used by the Municipality for processing the solid waste.

He further stated that the Forest Department has been asking the Municipality to hand over the entire 15 acres. The Municipality has agreed to offer alternate land to the extent of 30 acres to the Forest Department with certain conditions relating to afforestation by the municipality - in which event the municipality can continue to use the said 15 acres. The Committee was informed that the administrative process in finalizing the above proposal is in progress and the same would be finalized soon.

The expert member, Professor Kurian Joseph after extensive study of the entire Theetukkal site has suggested that the existing centralized waste process should continue till decentralized micro composting centers are made fully operational.

The report also stated that the Municipal Commissioner has informed the Committee that the solid waste dumped in Gudalur have been removed and the old bio medical waste have been completely removed and sent to a facility in Coimbatore for treatment in accordance with the Bio Medical Waste Management Rules 2016.

These were some of the highlights of the report uploaded to the NGT site on May 26, 2021.