TIRUCHY: The months-long delay by the Corporation to execute its plan of installing submerged garbage bins to tackle the city’s solid waste management woes has left residents wondering whether the project would be implemented at all. They now seek immediate installation of even normal garbage bins to curb the menace of littering in the open.
A few years ago, the Corporation as part of its plan to ensure success of its door-to-door garbage collection, had removed thousands of dumpsters across the city. But the initiative failed to achieve the desired success, following which the civic body resorted to the plan for installation of submerged garbage bins. In such bins, about 70 percent of its body would be under ground level. While the Corporation had brought two underground bins last October, they continue to be kept on the premises of the civic body’s main office.
Fizal Ahmed, a resident of Beema Nagar, said, "If the city has bins at major locations, at least some residents would use them for disposing of garbage. Now, most of them are mindlessly dumping it at public spots. The Corporation should therefore first place bins at various streets in the city," demanded.
However, sources said that such installation leaves officials worried over dumping of unsegregated waste. Ground-level workers, however, think otherwise. "At present, residents mindlessly throw waste near transformers and street corners.
We are regularly collecting such un-segregated waste. If they place bins, some of the residents would use it. This would make the sanitation of streets easier. It may also reduce littering at many places in the city," a sanitation worker said.
R Muthazhagan, a resident of Anna Nagar, has a different suggestion. "Earlier, the city used to have green and blue coloured bins for disposing of degradable and non-degradable waste. The Corporation had also conducted awareness campaigns to educate residents to dump degradable waste into the green bins and non-degradable waste into the blue ones. The Corporation can consider placing such bins if they are worried about the collection of un-segregated waste from bins.”
Meanwhile, Corporation officials said that they are trying their best to install bins at the earliest. We would soon place the submerged garbage bins on the streets. It is in the final stage and our team is taking steps to avoid further delay, a senior official said. According to sources, the Corporation has not installed them as they planning certain changes to the design.