CHENNAI: The Corporation’s conservancy workers in the Manali zone say they are being made to dispose of the collected household waste in nooks and crannies like vacant lands and waterbodies across the zone.
The conservancy inspectors are said to be instructing the workers to do so to ensure that a lesser quantum of waste is taken to the Kodungaiyur landfill. This is to help substantiate the much-boasted claim that the Manali zone is the front-runner among the Corporation zones in segregating and handling waste.
When Express visited the zone, it was found that waste was deposited in places hidden from public view. For example, in the composting facility in the burial ground in division 18, waste deposits in small mounds were found in the thorn bushes, carefully hidden from plain view. The small canal that ran alongside the compost yard was also found filled with plastic waste.
“Sometimes they ask us to dump biodegradable wastes and non-biodegradable waste that can’t be sold, in the bushes,” a conservancy worker told Express on condition of anonymity. “They want to ensure the tonnage sent to landfills is low. Just last week, I was asked to dump dog carcass in any bush that I could find on my way,” he said.
By the Chennai Corporation’s estimates, only 54% of the waste generated in Manali is sent to the landfills while the rest is handled at the zonal level itself. But what the conservancy workers say, and the waste found dumped in various places, suggest is that the officials may be simply dumping the waste at discreet places to achieve such statistics on paper.
Said conservancy worker Rajah (name changed), “We don’t regularly dump waste in the same place, because that will bring the supervising staff trouble. We are asked to deposit it wherever we think is a good place.”
However, according to staff, high-level corporation officers including engineers and the zonal officers are not aware of what transpires between conservancy staff and conservancy inspectors. Said Priya (name changed), “We try to inform the high-level officers of what is going on but it is ensured that we do not get any chance to interact with them, even when they come for inspections.”
Less bins, more burden
From 267, the number of garbage bins in Manali are down to around 30. This fact is considered as a testament to a well-oiled door-to-door waste collection and segregation system - another achievement that Manali is proud of.
While the number of bins is indeed reduced drastically, the conservancy staff, already overworked, said the burden has been transferred to them instead.
“Now, we have to collect waste from every household in our tricycles, deposit it at the segregation centre and return every time our tricycle is full,” said Prema, a conservancy worker for over 20 years and a member of the Red Flag Union. Conservancy staff said they sometimes have to make two or three trips a day, travelling around 5-6 km, said.
In the zone that has a population of around 1.56 lakh in around 20,000 households, there are only around 400 conservancy staff apart from park and malaria workers — 19 staff on non-muster Rolls, 20 permanent staff and 350 staff under the National Urban Livelihoods Mission.
In addition to added trips, the staff said that though the bins had been removed, residents dump waste in the spaces where the bins were earlier placed. “Our shift gets over at around 2 pm. After that, residents dump garbage in places where the bins were earlier kept and we have to pick all that up in the morning,” said Prakash, a conservancy worker.
Corporation officials, in response, said that though only one segregation centre is functional now, steps are being taken to construct another segregation centre in every division, thereby reducing the distance the staff may have to travel daily.
While much of the credit for Manali’s success in waste management has been given to residents, sources said that only around 20% of the households segregate their own waste, and the rest is left to sanitary workers. When Express visited the segregation centre, conservancy staff were seen working without gloves and masks. Corporation officials claimed that conservancy workers are reluctant to wear safety gear due to discomfort in the humid weather.
Officials deny charges
When contacted, Corporation officials said that waste is only taken to the segregation centres and is not dumped anywhere else. “Some conservancy staff may have accidentally dumped it in other places but the conservancy inspectors are properly monitoring the operations and have not issued any such instructions,” said an official