CHENNAI: A mixture of plastic and kitchen waste dots the coastline near Elliots Beach. This trail runs along the entire Odaikuppam fishing hamlet.While it is easy to blame residents of this fishing hamlet for lazy disposal of domestic waste, they have not been provided the regular door-to-door waste collection unlike their neighbours in Besant Nagar. Residents allege that the corporation collects waste from their houses only once in 10 days as opposed to the almost daily waste collection in Besant Nagar and other affluent parts of Adyar zone.
“Do you think we like dumping waste right in front of our houses,” asks K Arivu, a resident who says the lone bulk dustbin is not enough for the hamlet which has around 600 families.“The conservancy workers come as they please. Sometimes, domestic waste accumulates over weeks and families are forced to dump it in the open space, which happens to be the beach,” he says.When Express reporter visited Odaikuppam, he found even the interior parts of the hamlet overflowing with domestic waste. Most empty plots in the bylanes were being used as garbage dumps.
S Anbu, a local leader told Express that their requests to the corporation were repeatedly ignored and that NGOs offered some respite when they cleaned the coastline.“Some of our boys also join these clean-ups, but we have lost hope in the corporation,” he said, explaining how the predominantly daily-wagers’ hamlet doesn’t have the means to hold the corporation accountable.However, some residents claim it is not just poverty that is stopping them from demanding a comprehensive daily door-to-door waste collection.
“Odaikuppam is a DMK bastion and the government doesn’t care about us. So, conservancy workers are complacent,” said a resident.
When Express contacted the corporation Adyar zonal officer on the issue, he claimed to be unaware of the irregular door-to-door collection of waste at Odaikuppam and said the issue would be taken up with private contractor Ramky, which manages conservancy operations in the zone for the civic body.