Air pollution from the garbage yard situated on 40-acre land on Thanjavur Road is an old and recurring issue. Occasionally, the problem worsens when the garbage catches fire.

Nearly 400 tonnes of garbage collected from 65 wards within the municipal corporation area are dumped in the yard. On Sunday morning, the smoke started rising from the yard. Corporation officials are yet to ascertain the reason for the latest incident, though it is assumed burning garbage in the pile is the factor.

Meanwhile, residents are struggling to evade smoke. "We are cursed to breathe the smoke which causes health hazards. But we have no other alternative, except stay in the area. We are accustomed to inhaling the smoke," said H Syed, a resident of Ariyamangalam.

On Sunday morning, the fire service personnel quickly rushed to the spot with two fire tenders. As the smoke intensified in a few hours the fire brigade brought six more vehicles from Srirangam, Navalpattu, Manapparai,

Keeranur, Iluppur and Pudukkottai to douse the smoke. "We are trying to extinguish the fire within a couple of days. We learnt a lesson from the bitter experience we had last year. Hence, we have intensified efforts to contain the smoke at the earliest," said divisional fire officer S Syed Mohammed.

It may be recalled that the area adjoining the yard experienced severe air pollution. Smoke from the yard had engulfed the entire stretch from Ariyamangalam to the oil mill area on Thanjavur Road for several days last year in May and August. Subsequently, residents even launched protests against the corporation while demanding the shifting of the yard elsewhere.

Fire service department had also advised the corporation to take some measures to contain the smoke soon. However, the corporation is yet to take any initiative in this regard.