The Shoolagiri Wetland is turning into a toxic dump of industrial waste

A drone view of a wetland adjacent to a lake has turned into a bed of toxic industrial waste, even as officials look the other way near Sappadi on the NH-48 Hosur-Bengaluru highway on Sunday (June 14, 2026). | Photo credit: Bashkaran N

A kingfisher flew over a cormorant (a fishing bird) perched on top of a survey stone that stood in a huge pool of blackened water. This dark pool coalesced into a plateau of white granite dust and rubble; contrasted with the sooty black cakes of industrial waste; and large piles of plastic gun bags hidden by other industrial waste. The blowing winds whipped up white and black dust carrying a noxious stench, leaving one with flaming red eyes.

On the Krishnagiri-Hosur NH 48 near Chappadi in Krishnagiri district, a huge stretch of wetlands has turned into an industrial waste dump in plain sight. The 0.34ha of wetland is a vast toxic deposit of industrial waste brazenly dumped as a dump allegedly by the owner of the patta who defied the revenue authority’s “requests” not to dump the waste.

This wetland-turned-toxic dump in Nallaganakothapalli village shares a border with Sinnayan Lake, which irrigates hundreds of hectares of paddy fields and coconut groves. The lake itself eventually overflows and fills three other lakes.

Seepage from Lake Sinnayan created a watering hole, but the water has now turned black and merged with the toxic dump. “When the monsoons come, this toxic dump seeps into the groundwater and seeps back into the lake and into the narrow waterways that bring water to the fields,” says Thimmaraj of the Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Paadhukaappu Sangam, which recently filed an application with the district administration. “But we were told that this is Patta land and that the owner refuses to take it.

However, pollution on a scale that threatens to contaminate groundwater, hundreds of hectares of lush wetlands (Nanjai-classified land) and poison a number of lakes has not been dealt with so much as knocking on the knuckles.

“We have advised the owner not to dump the debris. Records show one Sattur Booch Pandari as the owner based in Mumbai. When I called, I was told that it was patta land and that BDO had no jurisdiction and that it was the revenue department’s jurisdiction. I was told that they will do whatever they want with their land,” said I too.

“Even if it is land, they could still just use the land as a dumping ground,” says R. Rameshbabu, tahsildar of Shoolagiri. And yet the tax office there did nothing and left it to the farmers to file a petition. “My petition has been handed over to the pollution authority,” says Thimmaraj.

On the Krishnagiri-Hosur NH 48 near Chappadi in Krishnagiri district, a vast stretch of wetlands adjacent to a lake has turned into a dumping ground for toxic industrial waste in plain sight. | Photo credit: PV Srividya

Notice to owners

In 2023, the National Green Tribuanal warned landowners against dumping garbage on their own patta lands causing environmental hazards.

Deliberate dumping of industrial waste, such as a landfill on a land with a common dam with a lake for elevation, will necessarily cause toxic wastes to seep back, poisoning the entire ecosystem below and above ground. BDO Kala said, “they will prepare a notice and issue it to the owner.

Published – 14 Jun 2026 17:16 IST