Biomedical waste, including syringes, items contaminated with body fluids and animal carcasses continue to be illegally dumped in yards marked for municipal waste, in contravention of both the Solid Waste Management Rules 2000 and the Biomedical Waste Management Rules 1998. At Kodungaiyur, hardly a hundred yards from the entrance to the dump, two cow carcasses, one old and one new, rot in the mud. A pile of bones and flesh nestles in a corner. Below them, a sludge of black water flows to Captain Cotton Canal. A letter from the Deputy Commissioner dated 10.5.95 (Vet C. No A1 0027/95), which allows dumping of animal carcasses, was used last week to bamboozle local officials into allowing the entry of such waste. Broken vials, syringes, plastic gloves, contaminated bandages, and hospital tubes are just some of the waste left in the open to be picked up or used by scavengers. Locals allege that human body parts are regularly dumped to the joy of mangy dogs that roam free despite regulations against them. Biomedical waste is supposed to be transported for incineration to the two sites outside the city or, as per the rules, chemically disinfected and put into proper landfill pits, where they should be covered with lime and soil. But the flies on the Kodungaiyur compound border can flit easily between meals of slum board residents and the carcasses, and the children can use the needles to shoot up or sell. Member of Legislative Assembly S.K. Mahendran, who strolled inside the dump on February 3, said, "There are a lot of syringes and other hospital waste here. They should not mix this with other waste.' Each of the large government hospitals in the city performs at least 50 major surgeries every day. In 2005-06, under a World Health Organisation-sponsored project, about 3,000 personnel, including doctors, nurses and paramedics were trained jointly by Madras Medical College and Stanley Medical College. The latter continues its weekly reinforcement meeting, said hospital dean, Mythili Bhaskaran. "The segregated waste is handed over to Chennai Corporation's employees and we maintain an account of what is being sent out. The Corporation sends two vehicles, one each to the hospital and college,' she says. But the capacity-building efforts are hardly enough. A paper by G. Karthikeyan and S. Karthikeyan of the Centre for Environmental Studies of Anna University, published in September, 2007, points out that the incinerators do not fulfil the required conditions. They have made several recommendations. A senior Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board official said field officers monitored the working of the incinerators every fortnight. "There may be some deviations and we can take suggestions,' he said. "But we have not received complaints from the local residents yet,' the official said.