The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Western suburb crying for better waste management

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 20, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Western suburb crying for better waste management

J. Malarvizhi

Avadi underground drainage system hasn't really taken off Avadi underground drainage system remains on paper Commuters complained of the stench and residents' organisations have expressed concern over the pollution of the Sekkadu Eri

DANGEROUS: Sewage water being flushed into a nearby lake, polluting drinking water at Avadi in Chennai on Wednesday.— Photo: V.Ganesan

CHENNAI: The lack of a waste management policy continues to haunt the western suburbs with sewage cleared from Avadi municipality being dumped beside the National Highway within the municipality itself.

Officials said that private contractors, whom the municipality cannot continuously regulate, are responsible for the clearance of sewage.

The stretch of the MTH road between Avadi and Pattabhiram is separated from the Sekkadu Eri by a railway track. The space between the track and the road is now being used to dump garbage and sewage.

Regular commuters complained of the stench and residents' organisations have expressed concern over the pollution of the lake.

Sources have said that the proposal for the Avadi underground drainage system remains on paper, since space for the sewage treatment plant could not be identified.

Even open drainage trenches have been `widened' during the rains and their concrete walls destroyed, said T. Sadagopan, consumer activist.

Sewage disposal being completely privatised, contractors are left to find their own space of disposal.

One of the conditions on which sewage disposal was leased out was that contractors would have to dispose of sewage on their own expense outside municipality limits. They are paid amounts varying from Rs. 300 per tank cleared for houses belonging to the residents to Rs. 500 for tanks of structures accommodating large numbers like marriage halls.

Sewage disposal has been fully privatised in the 48 wards of the Municipality.

Contractors have driven a pipe into the side of the road on the MTH Road opposite the new Reliance petrol pump, purely to enable the quick disposal of sewage, residents alleged.

The space between the track and the road is also linked to the Sekkadu Eri and could lead to pollution of the water body, they said.

Between midnight and early morning lorries of private contractors dump as many as ten to twenty loads of sewage, alleged Mr. Sadagopan.

Manivannan, resident, has to travel the stretch between Avadi and Pattabhiram regularly and finds the stench unbearable.

Members of consumer organisations said that implementing the underground drainage project would be a first step towards preventing such haphazard and dangerous disposal methods.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail