Move to clean up vacant plots in Tiruchy loses steam; becomes safe haven to garbage dump

TIRUCHY: Almost a year after the issue of vacant plots serving as garbage dumps and havens for reptiles and insects was taken up by the Tiruchy corporation, things hardly seem to have changed. The issue continues to surface in grievance meetings held by the civic body.

In a council meeting held in March 2022, Mayor Mu Anbalagan said that the corporation would acquire the ill-maintained properties. Though no such step was taken, a few officials did say that some plot owners started clearing their land following the mayor's announcement.

When the issue came up again in another council meeting in August last year, the Mayor had called for the placing of banners in such plots, warning the owners of stern action if they failed to clean the property.

According to sources, the civic body had placed banners in 700 such properties around the city, out of which 300 plots were cleaned up.

But with most owners preferring to ignore these warnings, the initiative seems to have lost steam. Close to a year since the issue was first taken up in the council meeting, the corporation continues to receive complaints about ill-maintained plots and the menace they cause but sources say, it often ignores these petitions nowadays.

Several senior officers, on condition of anonymity, admitted that it was difficult for the corporation to identify such plot owners and serve them a notice.

"It is a tough task to identify the owners of vacant plots in the city, several of them located in other districts or states. It would make no difference if we put a banner on their property, they may not even be aware of it. If we direct our officials to collect their addresses from the registration department, it would only increase their workload. Therefore, our only option is that we can mark a fine on such properties and collect them when the owners approach the corporation for some building permit or tax renewal. Apart from this, we cannot acquire such land or conduct its cleaning work," a senior officer said.

With the administration struggling to come up with a solution to this issue, the residents said that the corporation should consider raising it with the government.

"The corporation has to raise the issue with the government and request them to come up with laws act against plot owners. Otherwise, this issue will continue to affect the residents," said M Muthukrishnan, a resident staying near a vacant plot in KK Nagar.