Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Veerakeralam struggles to manage garbage

K.V. Prasad

Shortage in manpower, pushcarts hampers waste collection

CLEAN ENVIRONS: Door-to-door collection of garbage on at Veerakeralam near the city. - Photo: K. Ananthan

COIMBATORE: Veerakeralam Town Panchayat, situated about 10 km west of the city, struggles to sustain its waste management in the face of inadequate number of workers and pushcarts.

A brave attempt at ridding the streets of litter is defeated by the manner in which the waste ends up. It either lands in a defunct well or on an open site on the northern border of the local body. Only the concrete lining reminds one that the deep waste dump is actually a well. Layers of mud and all sorts of garbage cover the steps leading down the well.

Smoke from burning garbage billows from the well and a breeze headed west carries it into residential layouts. "This is a regular problem," says R. Ramamurty, a resident of Anna Nagar. "This is where the garbage has been ending for some time and everyone is aware of it," he says, indicating that the local body knows what is happening but is not in a position to change the situation.

Workers collecting the garbage admit to dumping it into the well. A group of six workers that sets out early in the morning to collect waste says it is not possible to push a cart of six bins over two km to an open space.

Therefore, the defunct well comes in handy.

One of the workers blames this on inadequate number of vehicles to transport the waste. The local body has only one tractor and this is not sufficient to cover all the 15 wards. That is why garbage from many wards ends up in the well and only those are piled on to the tractor reach a dumping site on the northern border of Veerakeralam.

Councillor of Ward 4 Shanthi Rajan says: "We have appealed to the panchayat to purchase one more tractor so that waste can be taken to the dumping ground and not thrown into the well."

President of the local body V.T. Bakthavathsalam clarifies that the well is not abused and is actually being used for a landfill method of waste disposal. "The owner of the well has asked us to dump waste into it to have it closed. Since the well threatens to damage the Linganoor Road, the Department of Highways had even issued a notice to have it closed.

The president says waste collection manages to continue despite constraints in the form of inadequate pushcarts. "There are only 11 pushcarts for 15 wards. We hope to overcome this problem."

As for more tractors, he says there is a shortage of drivers to buy a new vehicle. "We do not have the sanction to recruit a driver. So, we are not able to go in for new vehicles," he says.

Residents point out that the shortage of pushcarts is the reason for complaints of poor coverage of some areas. While people in the housing unit say that garbage is removed every day, residents on Anna Nagar II Street complain that this does not happen in their areas.

Thilakavathy of the housing unit is happy with the way the area around her house is clean because of the door-to-door collection. But, N.V. Ganesh of Anna Nagar II Street says the collection is very erratic. "Sometimes, we do not know when these people come to collect garbage," he complains.

A woman worker claims that leave is availed of only if one is very sick. Otherwise, garbage is not collected only on Sunday, as it is a weekly holiday. The workers accuse some residents of not handing over garbage. They allege that garbage is dumped along roads or on open sites.

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

Stories in this Section

Veerakeralam struggles to manage garbage
Confederation of Indian Industry to organise summit on higher education
CPI(M) seeks higher procurement prices
No move to acquire land, say officials
Probe on into abduction charge
Around the City
In Coimbatore Today

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu