CHENNAI: Rampant dumping of garbage in Tondiarpet continues to pose serious health hazards. It is conservancy workers, who after door-to-door collection, dump garbage on the roadside due to absence of bins. The waste remains uncollected for days,’’ alleged Ramanujam K of Elayamudali Street.
As per Solid Waste Management Rules, conservancy workers are mandated to collect door-to-door and dump the waste in bins. From there, the waste will be taken to resource recovery centre for segregation before being moved to the dumpyard.
However, as Greater Chennai Corporation is planning to phase out garbage bins, to promote the door-to-door collection, dumping of garbage in the open is becoming rampant, residents claimed. They pointed out that apart from the foul odour, rodents in large numbers enter these dumps and chances of disease outbreak looms. The rats also enter houses in search of food.
Cows and dogs nibble on the waste and push it on to the road, sullying the whole area, residents lament.
The story is the same near Mint, outside Bharat theatre, where residents allege garbage is collected every alternate day.
Currently, there are more than 2,000 bins in the city, but most of them are rusty and broken. The conservancy workers dump garbage on the roadside or just park their tricycles filled with garbage on the road and leave. The understaffed civic body has promised to look into the matter.
Recently, a Spanish firm took charge of collecting garbage in South Chennai on a contract basis. Corporation workers collect garbage in North Chennai. Corporation officials admitted that the quantum of waste generated differed on a daily basis. Based on that, workers need to make multiple trips.
On open dumping of garbage, the official said, ‘’If it is found that it is workers who are doing it, strict action will be taken against them.’’Garbage pile City generates 5,400 tonnes of waste daily Corporation to buy 1,600 battery-operated vehicles to collect garbage.