CHENNAI: Open dumping of garbage is rampant in the city, as many streets have piles of toxic waste. Residents and office goers allege they are sometimes forced to throw their waste in the open as garbage collection is irregular in their localities.
Several streets in Ambattur, Mogappair, Maduravoyal and even parts of north Chennai, such as Tondiarpet and Korukuppet, have garbage lying on the streets. On some streets, such as Pari Road in Mogappair, residents say they have been dumping waste by the road for years as garbage collection is irregular.
“We don’t know when the staff come to collect garbage. Sometimes they come on alternate days. With their irregular schedule, it is hard to segregate and hand over the waste as we are office goers,” said Srikkanth R, a resident of Mogappair.
With garbage dumped in the open, residents also face a menace from cattle, rodents and pigs. The road above the Cooum River in Golden George Nagar too has huge piles of garbage. “Every day, pigs loiter around the roads due to the garbage,” said Rajalakshmi, who commutes through the area. In parts of north Chennai, such as Tondiarpet, garbage is strewn around the bins.
“On Elayamudali Street, cows are usually seen pulling down the garbage. This is due to untimely collection and removal of waste,” said another resident. Many streets in Chennai have garbage at their corners as residents dump their waste in the open. A few sanitary workers, on the condition of anonymity, said it is strenuous to make multiple trips to collect waste when the garbage load is high.
“We shift garbage from houses to community bins, and from there, to composting centres. But sometimes when the load is high, the staff leave garbage in the bins till the next day,” said a staff working in Zone 5.
Corporation officials, meanwhile, denied residents’ allegations that there were irregularities in collection of waste. “There can’t be any irregularities as the attendance of conservancy workers is monitored daily. We will take action if any irregularities are found,” said an official.
The official added that the Corporation sanitary inspectors have been instructed to cordon off garbage corners and put up a board asking people not to dump waste there. “This has been widely implemented across the city,” the official stated. The city has 19,605 conservancy workers, who collect an average of 5,000 metric tonnes of garbage every day.