BJP urges TN to stop Kerala's garbage dumping in border areas

Chennai

Tamil Nadu BJP President, K. Annamalai, has called on the Tamil Nadu government to take immediate action to stop Kerala from dumping garbage in the state's border districts. In a post on social media, Annamalai accused Chief Minister M.K. Stalin of allowing the southern districts of Kanyakumari, Tenkasi, and Tirunelveli to become garbage dumps for Kerala’s biomedical, plastic, and meat waste. He claimed that border check posts, intended to prevent illegal waste transport, have become collection points for the garbage. Annamalai further criticized the DMK government for ignoring the illegal smuggling of minerals from Tamil Nadu into Kerala while permitting the state to be used as a dumping ground. Despite numerous complaints to authorities, no action has been taken, he said. In response to the ongoing issue, Annamalai warned that if the dumping continues, the BJP would mobilize public support in January 2025 to load the waste back onto trucks and send it back to Kerala. He vowed to lead the initiative personally. The dumped waste includes hazardous materials like used syringes, PPE kits, and medical records from Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram Regional Cancer Centre (RCC), raising serious health and environmental concerns. Some documents found among the waste contained sensitive patient information, highlighting both improper disposal and potential data breaches.