ECOWATCH, an ecology-focused group of volunteers under the Federation of OMR Resident Associations (FOMRRA) have identified a blatant violation of environmental standards and a serious disregard for bereaved families.

An unauthorised dumpyard continues to grow and operate on the land designated as a graveyard, situated along the banks of the Buckingham Canal in Navalur.

For the last few years, the residents of Navalur have been striving to shut down this unauthorised dumping ground created by the Navalur panchayat located on the banks of the Buckingham Canal, shockingly situated on earmarked graveyard land.

This dump yard is close to residential communities, a school, the Buckingham canal and the newly planted mangrove belt. Despite repeated complaints to relevant authorities, this illegal dump yard continues to operate and expand.

The dumping ground poses a severe health hazard and an ecological disaster for residential sites and a neighbouring school community, which are just less than 200 meters away, also affecting the surrounding bird and marine life of the Buckingham Canal.

This dumpyard also poses a threat to a total of 12,500 mangrove saplings planted by the Forest Department in the fish-bone model early this year, which is just 600 meters away in Kazhipattur.

Residents and school students continuously face rodents, pests, flies, snakes, and foul odour due to the continuous dumping and decomposition of waste in the area, it adds.

Recently, the waste was cleared only to be strewn along the canal banks, worsening contamination of a sensitive water channel.

The clearing was done to pave the land with concrete—an expense of ₹17.66 lakh—with the intention of resuming dumping operations on a hardened floor, making it a permanent dump yard.

(Harsha Koda is a co-founder of FOMRRA)

Published - August 10, 2026 11:09 am IST