COIMBATORE: Flouting rules, bulk waste generators in Coimbatore city continue to use the dump trucks of the civic body for disposing of their unsegregated wastes. As per norms, bulk waste generators have to dispose of their wastes on their own. There are a few designated private players who collect and process waste from bulk generators and dispose them safely for a fee. However, in order to cut the cost, some bulk waste generators bribe the CCMC dump truck drivers and contractors and dispose of their waste, sources said.
On Saturday evening, a dump truck of the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) was seen collecting mixed solid waste from a commercial complex at Saibaba Colony in Ward 69 of the Central Zone in the city. Photos and videos of the truck collecting mixed bulk waste from the commercial stores soon went viral on social media.
It is alleged private players have been bribing truck drivers, contractors and officials to get rid of their bulk wastes illegally in the city. The municipal corporation has issued a strict warning against this practice.
Social activists have pointed out bulk waste generators illegally dispose of their wastes in the dump yard at Vellalore owing to the lack of monitoring and stringent action by civic body personnel.
“A popular food chain store located at Saibaba Colony had illegally disposed of their mixed bulk waste on a CCMC truck. Many mixed bulk waste generators are illegally disposing of their waste which are later dumped in the Vellalore dump yard with the help of the CCMC personnel. These things don’t happen without the approval of sanitary inspectors and contractors,” said KS Mohan, a social activist and Secretary of the Kurichi-Vellalore Pollution Prevention Action Committee.
They have a ‘deal’ with the bulk waste generators and as a result, the pile of the mixed waste garbage at the Vellalore dump yard continues to grow bigger every day, he added.
Mohan also revealed that he has forwarded a complaint in this regard to the CCMC Commissioner M Sivaguru Prabakaran who has assured him to look into the matter and take necessary action.
Speaking to TNIE, a sanitary official from the central zone said, “No mixed bulk was loaded onto the truck at Saiababa Colony. The waste was collected from a sweet stall and not a hotel. Only hotels generate bulk waste of over 100 kilogram in a day. About 20 kg of segregated waste was taken from there. The truck was dispatched as a lot of waste, including discarded sugarcane, had accumulated following the Pongal festivities.”