CHENNAI: Basin Road, just beyond the Tiruvottriyur Railway level crossing near KCP, presents signs of decay. Mounds of putrefying garbage are dumped along the space bordering the land belonging to the Railways.

For the motorists travelling between Tiruvottriyur and Manali, it is a hellish experience. The garbage is periodically set afire, and the smoke spreads thickly across the road. A car parked there for barely five minutes teems with houseflies that swarm the garbage dump.

Residents of Manali despair at the squalid conditions that have existed for decades together. "Despite the Tiruvottriyur Municipality dumping ground, Municipal and private lorries dump the garbage all along the road and the situation becomes worse during the rains, when a strong nauseating smell spreads all over ," said A. Selvaraj, secretary of the Manali Sekkadu General Merchants Association.

T.A. Shanmugam, president of the Association, said that the dumping ground is also frequented by stray dogs and pigs. Carcasses are just thrown across the road, further messing up the Manali High Road.

While this is the route for MTC buses, office buses taking employees to industries in the Manali-Ennore industrial belt have to take the road. "With children living in the Manali area suffering from chronic lung infections and bouts of cold due to air pollution caused by industries, this open dumping of garbage is compounding the woes of the people," Mr. Shanmugam said.

The area is also called Mattumandai. A Southern Railway board says, "The land belongs to Southern Railway. Those encroaching upon it will be punished."

Several complaints to the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board by Government organisations and private associations pointing out the problem in the last decade were in vain, residents said.

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