CHENNAI: Lack of garbage bins and irregular conservancy by Greater Chennai Corporation have turned Kattukuppam fishing village of Ennore into a dump yard. Fishermen say garbage collected in tricycles from door-to-door from other villages too is being dumped in the open lands at Kattukuppam. ‘’Since there is only one corporation metal garbage bin for the village of 500 households, the tricycles dump all the garbage in the open lands on the shores of Kosasthalaiyar,’’ says P Mahendran (45), a fisherman of Kattukuppam.
When Express visited the spot at Kattukuppam, adjacent to Kosasthalaiyar river, burnt garbage including plastic, rubber and even human faeces were found in the area. Garbage was found strewn in many other places also.‘’It has been three to four months since a garbage truck visited the village,’’ said Mahendran, adding that the last time the truck came to the village, corporation removed the garbage using an earthmover in a haphazard manner. The result; a lot of garbage still remains to be collected.
Recently, the village members demanded extra garbage bins for each street, but it was of no avail. ‘’Usually, in the past, we used to get the work done by complaining to councillors, but since no local body polls were held, making a demand to the civic body directly has become a laborious task,’’ he said.
It is alleged that men of Kattukuppam largely defecate in the open. Though all the households in the village have toilets, dysfunctional sewage lines have hindered fishermen from using the facility. “Our septic tanks are only three to four feet deep and often stagnates. So we let the women use toilets while we use open lands. Once the sewage lines are given proper connection, we will stop open-defecation,’’ says Anbu, a fisherman adding that this will also stop sewage mixing in Kosasthalaiyar river.
A corporation Zone-1 official said a truck will be sent on Monday to clear the garbage. ‘’Garbage trucks are supposed to collect garbage weekly once, but due to elections, we were not able to send the trucks on time.” He said that at the moment, there is only one garbage bin for the village. “Hence, our staff would have dumped the excess garbage in open lands,’’ he said adding that the corporation will ensure that there is no further dumping of garbage in open lands.