CHENNAI: To address issues of overflowing waste bins and inefficient clearing of garbage from them, the Greater Chennai Corporation is planning to install AI-enabled CCTV cameras at a few garbage hotspots. Speaking to TNIE, GCC Commissioner J Kumaragurubaran said on a pilot basis, they will focus on five zones – Tondiarpet, Royapuram, Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar, Ambattur and Anna Nagar. “In each ward in these zones, we plan to install AI-enabled cameras at three or four locations.
The complaints we get from most people are that the corporation is not properly clearing the bins and that there are insufficient bins in the city, resulting in overflowing of wastes,” he said. As to how the cameras will work, Kumaragurubaran said, “The photographs of the bins will be captured now and then, and they will be sent to the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC). AI camera will beep when a photo of an overflowing bin is captured.”
In such instances, the ICCC will immediately send the image to the respective zonal officer, who will take steps to clear the bins. The civic body commissioner said the project will be completed in two to three months.
Cattle pounds
The GCC has also issued letters of acceptance (LoA) for constructing 12 cattle pounds in the city. Kumaragurubaran said that even when corporation staff seized stray cattle, impounding them proved a problem since there are only two cattle pounds in the entire city.
“Barring Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar, where stray cattle menace is not a major issue, all other 14 zones will soon have one cattle pound each,” he said. Earlier, the corporation had announced fines ranging from `5,000-`10,000 on the owners of cattle that are found roaming on the roads. In the last few months, more stray cattle attacks and incidents of cattle jumping in front of vehicles leading to accidents have been reported in the city.