"Our waste, our responsibility," says the LSG department. So who should be held responsible for taking Kerala's waste and dumping it in Tamil Nadu? The incident of Kerala dumping hospital waste in Tamil Nadu had caused a big controversy. Loads of garbage from Kerala were dumped in deserted places and water bodies in the Tirunelveli district near the Kerala border. It was reported that this was done by some private companies who have taken up waste management. The political leaders and panchayat officials of Tirunelveli had threatened to load the garbage in a lorry and deposit it in Kerala if they did not remove it. Anyway, Kerala has completely removed that waste from there.

Garbage disposal was completed in three villages of Tirunelveli last day when 11 lorries removed the waste. The preliminary estimate is that 300 tons of garbage were removed in a total of 30 lorries. The garbage dumped by the Kerala agencies in the villages of Tirunelveli has been removed under the leadership of the Clean Kerala Company by working tirelessly for two days. Those places were cleaned by the Tamil Nadu Health Department at their expense. Most of the waste dumped in Tirunelveli was hospital waste. It even included human body parts. The discarded items included used syringes, medicine bottles, sponges, masks and gloves along with hospital records of the patients. Four people have been arrested in the case related to the dumping of garbage. All four are natives of Tamil Nadu.

The environmental activists allege that the lorries leaving from the paper mills in Tirunelveli to Kerala collect a large amount of medical waste and dump it in Tamil Nadu while returning. RCC had responded through a press release to the false allegation on social media that this was RCC's waste. RCC has adopted effective systems to manage hospital waste safely and responsibly. The RCC's note was to explain the procedures for the segregation and disposal of bio-chemical wastes as per rules and regulations. It should be investigated whether it was the waste of private hospitals that was taken and dumped in Tirunelveli.

The government should be able to make hospital operators responsible for waste disposal. The High Court also pointed out in a suo moto case in this regard that the incident of dumping garbage in other states should never be repeated again. For this, waste management and disposal rules should be strictly enforced. The government should prepare facilities here including plants to dispose of our waste. Similarly, the government should be able to monitor the collection, transportation and disposal of waste by private agencies. After Brahmapuram went up in flames, Kerala has now been able to set up a well-functioning plant there. Small plants can be set up in other places as well if required. We need to show that our waste is our own responsibility in our actions too.