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.
