CHENNAI: In October 2019, in the wee hours, Rishi Kannah, a hotel management student at Annamal Institute of Hotel Management, was riding back home in Kamarajar Street in Pallavaram, on his motorbike.
Just as he swerved into the lane, his two-wheeler skid on a piece of garbage. He was thrown off, landing right next to a massive pile of trash dumped on the street.
“There are no municipality garbage bins in Pallavaram. The workers are supposed to collect garbage from door to door, but recently they have stopped that practice,” he said.
Frustrated with the civic apathy, Rishi took it upon himself to bring the garbage disposal issue to the notice of the authorities.
“My aunt has lived in our house at Pallavaram since 2008. Unable to find garbage bins, residents would dump their unsegregated garbage onto the street, right in front of my aunt’s house. She and my uncle had raised a complaint with the Greater Corporation of Chennai in 2011, but the issue still hasn’t been addressed,” said the concerned 19-year-old.
Concerns and solutions
Many residents of Pallavaram and surrounding areas share similar concerns. “We have been living here for the last 14 years.
"As more and more houses were constructed, the green areas slowly turned into dumping grounds. Now there is garbage lining the streets everywhere,” said S Selvaraj, a resident in Pallavaram.
When CE approached the zonal officer of the Pallikaranai dumpyard, Baskaran Singaravelu, he said, “We have removed the municipal dustbins in seven areas except for main roads. We have also increased our on-ground workforce to pick up compostable garbage from door to door. Around 60 per cent of residents in these areas have been segregating waste. We are constantly campaigning and sensitising the others about proper segregation. All segregated waste is then taken to our six compost yards including those in Madipakkam and Perungudi. The waste is ground and then put in the dump to decompose.”
Sangeetha V, a municipality worker who picks up garbage in Pallavaram said, “The vehicle to pick up the compostable waste comes at 8 am every day. Those who do not wake up on time, later dump their waste on the street. Our work is doubled and we have to keep cleaning the garbage throughout the day. We are only five in this area, it is almost impossible to clean the dumps every day.”
Some residents have paid heed to the Corporation’s campaign and have begun segregating waste. “The vehicle comes every day to pick up the garbage.
But, the workers will not take it if it hasn’t been segregated. A few of us have started segregating mainly because of that.
"But, most of the residents here are young and don’t live with their families, or are economically backward and don’t know what segregation is. They generally then dump the waste out on the street,” says Padma Manikandan, another resident of Pallavaram.
App’s the way
When he saw that the menace ceased to end in his area, Rishi decided to approach the Pammal municipality office on December 14, 2019, to file a complaint. “I lodged a complaint with the municipality and the Greater Chennai Corporation via apps like Solve Ninja, Sameer and Namma Chennai.
Although the Namma Chennai app doesn’t include Pallavaram in its serviceable area, I received a call within ten minutes of lodging my complaint, when I registered my area as Pallikaranai,” he said. Because of the area constraint, the authorities didn’t respond to the complaint lodged on the
Namma Chennai app
Helpless and clueless about addressing the issue of garbage disposal in his area, Rishi visited Govindaraj, who is in charge of garbage disposal at the Pammal municipality. “He confirmed my suspicion of a short workforce in the area.
"He explained that the municipality will address the issue as soon as possible. Garbage still continues to pile up in front of my aunt’s house,” Rishi said.
Rishi is one of many Chennaiites who want to report civic issues, but have no means to. The final question is: do we need more municipality bins to maintain hygiene or do we just need to start segregating?