Chennai: No solid waste should be dumped along Perumbakkam lake, and St Thomas Mount panchayat union should install CCTV cameras around the area to prevent such activities, in line with recommendations made by Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), the southern bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered.Taking exception to the lack of mechanisms for solid waste management in Perumbakkam panchayat, which generates around 40 tonnes of garbage a day, the bench directed Chengalpet collector to identify a suitable facility for collection, segregation, processing and scientific disposal of solid waste generated by the panchayat.The orders were passed on a case taken up by the bench over the proposed establishment of a solid-waste collection and segregation facility near a protected megalithic cists and cairns site at Perumbakkam, which falls under the control of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).While a report filed by Chengalpet collector in July 2025 stated that the panchayat did not have a dedicated dump yard and alternative sites were being found for the same, activities to identify such sites were stopped once ASI said that the area fell under its control. The report specified that no solid waste was dumped at the site thereafter.However, a report by TNPCB on Aug 13, 2025, showed unsegregated solid waste dumped at Perumbakkam lake surplus-weir channel pathway, contrary to the collector’s report. “The report discloses a separate and continuing concern. The absence of a dedicated solid waste management facility within the panchayat limits cannot be a justification for dumping along a lake’s boundary or surplus channel,” said the bench, comprising Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and judicial member Prashant Gargava.NGT then directed ASI to continue safeguarding the protected monument and ensure that no activity affecting the area is undertaken there.
