The Madras high court has ordered notice to the state government on a public interest litigation (PIL), to restrain the authorities from disposing human waste and sewerage from the Central Prison, Puzhal, in the manner of causing air and water pollution in Puzhal area and further direct the government to initiate appropriate action to ensure that proper and full-fledged sewerage system was installed in the Puzhal Central prison.
A division bench of Chief Justice M.Y. Eqbal and Justice T.S. Sivagnanam posted after four weeks, further hearing of the PIL filed by D.J. Venkatesan, a resident of Puzhal.
According to petitioner, the Central Prison in Puzhal became operational without there being any provision and preparation for disposal of sewerage (human waste) properly.
It appears that there was no proper sewerage system laid in central prison and the sewages were periodically being drained by pumping human waste from the tanks set up for storage of sewerage and disposed within the outer compound of the jail, thereby the sewage was flowing like a river and stagnated as a pool of sewage in and around the prison compound. During summer, the residue lies dried up.
Human waste from the prison was being disposed, ignoring the fact that the water resources were within the zone and without realising the consequences of such improper and irregular disposal of human wastes, he added.