Litter strewn along the road surrounding the Ooty Lake in Udhagamandalam. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The Udhagamandalam Municipality (UMC) plans to install Closed Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV) around the town, especially in the outskirts to identify litterers.
Over the last few months, local residents as well as activists have complained about illegal littering piling up in locations throughout municipality limits, especially near forests and remote areas away from human settlements. “This causes a number of issues, first and foremost to wildlife, that are exposed to garbage and potentially hazardous waste,” said a conservationist from the Nilgiris, who has been exposing the illegal dumping of waste around the town, especially near Lovedale, M. Palada and around the Ooty lake.
“The Ooty lake has also become a hotspot for the dumping of construction waste and debris from builders,” said the activist, adding illegal dumping of waste also inadvertently leads to the increase in the feral dog population and also attracts wildlife into closer proximity to humans, including sloth bears and wild boar. “Other predators, such as leopards are also becoming attracted closer to town to hunt these animals that have become dependent on garbage waste,” he added.
As a first step towards identifying the violators, the UMC is set to partner with an NGO and install CCTV cameras in locations where illegal dumping of waste has become common. Speaking to The Hindu, S. Sibi, the Municipal Health Officer at the UMC, said the plan was to install cameras at around 20-25 locations across the town, including around the Ooty lake.
Two weeks on, wild elephant that reached Ooty continues to explore forests around town
“We suspect that the primary rule breakers are resorts and hotels that come to the locations after dusk and dump their waste at the site,” said Mr. Sibi. He said one of the reasons that action is difficult to initiate is that it is near impossible to identify the perpetrators, adding that the cameras would help to potentially identify the people and businesses responsible so that punitive action, in the form of fines can be levied.
Municipality officials also hope by increasing surveillance, that they will be able to send a message to local communities too to responsibly dispose of their waste.
Published – June 15, 2025 03:19 pm IST
