THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A few hours of summer rain on Tuesday showed what the real rainy season can do to the capital city the coming June. The residents and the civic authorities could only watch in horror as all the ‘minor’ and ‘major’ trash dumps that had sprung up in every nook and corner of the city flowed out into the streets with the rainwater.
On Tuesday evening, the civic authorities also got a taste of what public outcry would be like by June if the garbage problem is not solved amicably. A sizable garbage dump that had appeared near the Rajaji Nagar Colony dissolved in the downpour and spread into the road and the compounds of nearby houses, resulting in a mass protest. Enraged local people blocked the road, forcing the City Corporation to act.
On Wednesday morning, a large excavator and a garbage truck appeared on the scene and the garbage was taken away.
The rain-soaked garbage will start rotting soon, contributing to the already rampant epidemic scare, residents fear. One of the biggest dumps that had appeared literally overnight following the Vilappilsala stand-off was at a large open roadside compound at Attakulangara. Known locally as Erumakuzhi, the compound is now a mini-Vilappilsala.
After the Kudumbashree Cleanwell workers had stopped garbage collection last December, quite a large number of families had taken to burning the waste out in the open. Bonfires had become a common sight in the evenings. The rainy season will put an end to this, which means, garbage will start accumulating across the city big time.
When contacted, Corporation Health Standing Committee chairperson S Pushpalatha said the Corporation will do all it can to clean up the city before the onset of the monsoon. ‘’The Corporation is out of options for dumping the garbage. The Government has to take a decision,’’ she said.