THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even while claiming to have effectively implemented door-to-door garbage collection and installed aerobic bins and material recovery facilities across the city, the Thiruvananthapuram corporation appears to be least bothered about the large quantities of poultry waste being dumped into the sea near the bollard testing facility close to the Vizhinjam harbour.
On Saturday, a video clip went viral on social media showing a motorcycle-borne man throwing a sack of poultry waste into the sea in broad daylight. Though other people and tourists were standing nearby, the offender dumped the waste and returned, the video shows.
Given the rampant dumping of animal waste and septage in water bodies and roadsides, the corporation had appointed special health squads to nab offenders. However, the squad appears to be unaware of the waste dumping at Vizhinjam. A lack of surveillance cameras seems to have encouraged violators to dump waste in public places. But in the instance depicted in the video clip, the violator dumped the waste publicly. Besides slaughter waste, the garbage mounds also include household waste.
“We spend evenings here because of the magical beauty of the Arabian Sea at Vizhinjam. We can also see the construction of the new port and spot the ships coming for crew change,” said Sreejith V S, who drives to Vizhinjam all the way from Poojappura.
Usually, middlemen play a major role in waste-dumping in public places. They collect waste from hotels and meat shops for a price, and then transport it in trucks to be dumped in deserted places. Depending on the shop and the quantity of waste, the amount collected by middlemen varies from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 per day. A large quantity of poultry waste is generated every day in the city alone.
Mayor Arya Rajendran was unavailable for comment.