Tamil Nadu amends Goondas Act to curb illegal biomedical waste disposal
Chennai: In a significant
move aimed at addressing the illegal dumping of bio-medical waste, Tamil Nadu
Governor R N Ravi has approved an amendment to the Goondas Act, 1982, enabling
authorities to detain individuals involved in such activities under the stringent provisions of the act.
The amendment, passed in
the State Assembly in April 2025, comes in response to recurring incidents of
medical waste being dumped in Tamil Nadu’s border districts by institutions
from neighbouring Kerala.
According to Deccan Herald, the government amended the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous
Activities of Bootleggers, Cyber Law Offenders, Drug Offenders, Forest
Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders, Sand Offenders, Sexual
Offenders, Slum-Grabbers and Video Pirates Act, 1982, aligning it with the
Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016. The state government had argued that
such changes were imperative due to the serious health and environmental
hazards posed by the illegal disposal of bio-medical waste.
According to the amended
provisions, anyone found disposing of or attempting to dispose of bio-medical
waste in violation of the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 — an offence
punishable under the Environment Protection Act, 1986 — can now be detained
under the Goondas Act.
“…for the expression
“bootleggers, cyber law offenders, drug offenders”, the expression
‘bio-medical waste offenders, bootleggers, cyber law offenders, drug
offenders, economic-offenders” shall be substituted,” the bill said.
The backdrop to this
legislative action includes repeated instances of biomedical waste being
transported from Kerala and dumped in Tamil Nadu’s border districts such as
Theni, Kanyakumari, Tenkasi, and Tirunelveli. Despite complaints by landowners
and local residents, the practice has continued, sparking widespread public
outrage. Residents allege that lorries arriving from Kerala, ostensibly to
carry loads from a nearby paper mill, have been clandestinely unloading
biomedical and other hazardous waste in vacant lands across these villages.
One of the most serious
cases occurred on December 15, 2024, when medical and plastic waste from the
Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) in Thiruvananthapuram was found dumped in
Kodaganallur and Palavoor villages in Tirunelveli district. These acts of
dumping were carried out on privately owned open lands, further creating hazards
for the locals.
Tribunal (NGT) previously also directed the Kerala government in December 2024
to retrieve the plastic waste dumped in Tirunelveli and ensure no further
violations. However, the state government of Tamil Nadu has now opted for a
sterner approach, hoping that provisions under the Goondas Act will serve as an
effective deterrent against future violations.
