CHENNAI: Much to the annoyance of commuters at Old Washermenpet in North Chennai, garbage has been rotting in the corporation bins for days near the Theagaraya College Metro station.
The spot is hardly 20 metres from the back of the station compound at Ramanujam Street. It is also very close to the busy Bombay Hotel junction.
About 10 bins and three Corporation tri-cycles, all filled with garbage, cause a stink along the stretch and commuters say this has been the case here for the past few years. While the entrance of the Theagaraya College Metro is placed opposite to the Maharani theatre, the compound of the Metro reaches all the way till Ramanujan Street.
“These bins have been here for more than two years and remain full, sometimes even for three or four days. The sanitary staff and other public casually dump all the garbage in this bin and forget about it. It is cleared only after a few days,” said Ravi G, a resident of Old Washermenpet.
At a time when garbage bins are being phased out by the city corporation, it is rare to find so many at one place. In fact, the sanitary staff who collect the garbage are supposed to take them to the segregation site where bio-degradable and non-biodegradable waste is separated and processed. The bio waste is composed and the non-bio waste is used for construction purposes accordingly.
However, that seems to not be followed here as all the waste seen in the bin is unsegregated and also not removed even after days. Residents said that even before the Metro came here, it was a busy junction with thousands of people commuting.
These garbage collection irregularities are not new in North Chennai’s zones which are still handled directly by the Chennai Corporation and not outsourced. The New Indian Express has reported many times in the past on how garbage remains in the bins for days or is not collected from the houses.
When contacted, officials with the Tondiarpet zone said that the sanitary staff are supposed to shift the garbage to the segregation units and not leave it in the bins. “We will ensure the issue is rectified,” an official said.
While most of the Corporation zones are presently using electric vehicles to shift garbage, sanitary staff in this zone still use mechanical tri-cycles.