DMK Reverses Stance on Kodungaiyur Waste-to-Energy Plant at Council Meet

The DMK on Friday shifted its position on the proposed waste-to-energy (WTE) plant at Kodungaiyur, with Deputy Mayor M Magesh Kumaar stating that the party would oppose the project if local residents were against it.

The statement marked a reversal from the party's previous position, having strongly backed the implementation of the project while in government. The 2,100-metric-tonne-per-day WTE project had been announced in the state Budget last year under the previous DMK regime. When environmental and health concerns were raised at that time, Mayor R Priya and Magesh Kumaar had defended the project and maintained that it would be implemented.

However, responding to concerns raised during the council meeting, Magesh Kumaar stated that the DMK would oppose the plant if the public opposed it.

Earlier in the meeting, MDMK councillor S Jeevan sought reconsideration of the Kodungaiyur WTE project, citing environmental and health concerns. Jeevan pointed out that a smaller 50-MT incineration facility at Kodungaiyur, commissioned in 2021, was shut in February 2026 after an RTI response obtained by activists revealed that 45 of 48 prescribed environmental parameters had not been met.

Jeevan also referred to a councillors' visit to a WTE plant in Hyderabad, where he noted that ash was found settling around the facility and residents had raised health concerns. He stated that while they were not against the scientific handling of solid waste, it should not affect the public.

During the meeting, the DMK also backed several demands of sanitary workers. DMK councillor S Velu urged the TVK government to accept demands for job regularisation and questioned restrictions on protests at Ripon Building, noting that workers were allowed to protest there under the DMK regime. Sanitary workers protesting outsourcing and demanding regularisation at Ripon Building from August 1 to 13 had been detained around midnight during the previous tenure.

Magesh Kumaar additionally urged the government to consider demands including a food allowance instead of meals, maternity benefits, and rest spaces in every ward.