RAMANATHAPURAM: Tension prevailed in Natarajapuram near Rameswaram on Saturday after the garbage from a government primary school, kept outside the compound wall of the institution for collection, was dumped back inside the premises, triggering protests from local residents and parents.
Several parents and fishermen from the locality confronted the sanitary workers involved and allegedly prevented the latter from leaving the school premises, demanding that the waste be cleared immediately. Upon receiving information, Rameswaram Municipality Chairman Nasar Khan, along with representatives of a few political parties, inspected the spot. Following discussions, sanitary workers cleared the garbage from the school premises using a tractor.
According to the residents, as the garbage from the school, where hundreds of children from the fishing communities in the nearby areas study, was allegedly not cleared properly by the civic body, the parent-teacher association hired a worker to collect waste and keep it outside the school entrance -- along the Madurai-Dhanushkodi National Highway -- so that the sanitary workers could clear it during their daily collection rounds. However, on Saturday morning, the garbage pile was dumped back inside the school premises.
The residents have demanded that the district administration conduct a probe into the matter, after the sanitation supervisor alleged that the garbage was dumped inside based on the instructions of the municipality commissioner.
When contacted by TNIE, a senior official from the municipality refuted the allegations, saying the directions given were misinterpreted by the sanitary workers. "The school is located close to the Dhanushkodi road, and often, the waste piled up outside the school is set on fire or scattered across the roadside, causing sanitation issues in the area. Thus, directions were given to keep the waste inside the school premises, from where it would be collected by municipal workers," said the official.