Three garbage trucks purchased by the Corporation for waste collection have been left idle at Santhikavadam, Thycaud, for the past two years exposed to the elements of nature.
These hi-tech trucks were originally purchased by the Corporation at an cost of 20 lakh each for the purpose of garbage collection and transportation to the waste treatment factory at Vilappilsala.
When the trucks were purchased in 2011, the public protest against the Vilappilsala waste treatment plant was beginning to gain momentum. Later, the residents of Vilappilsala started preventing the garbage trucks from entering the panchayat. By the end of the year, the garbage treament plant was itself forced to be closed down and this had left the trucks with no purpose to serve.
The unused trucks are now parked near the Santhikavadam crematorium. ‘’Initially, it was nine trucks. Later they shifted all the trucks except these three. Nobody ever bothered to check these trucks and ever since they were left here exposed to the vagaries of nature.
They can still be used for other purposes by making slight modifications, rather than leaving them to rust,’’ said Serin, who is working at Thycaud.
The trucks were purchased with the aim of collecting garbage from places where huge amounts of waste are generated like hospitals and hotels. Ever since the closure of the Villappilsala plant, the waste from the city are being collected and either burnt or buried at vacant areas.
The signs of these trucks rusting away are becoming more and more evident as time passes. One of the trucks is almost covered in shrubs. In no time, the trucks will turn out to be nothing more than a useless junk of metal proving to be a waste of the taxpayers’ money.
However, the city Corporation officials are optimistic.
When contacted, Mayor K Chandrika said that the Corporation have already made plans to turn the garbage trucks into water carriers.
Health Standing Committee chairperson S Pushpalatha said the Corporation has the responsibility of doing it. There are hopes that attempts to salvage these trucks will at last yield some result.