Tamil Nadu   

It’s a burning problem in southern suburbs of Chennai

— Photo: K.Manikandan

Health hazard: Garbage burnt along the link road connecting Medavakkam and Sholinganallur on Tuesday.

TAMBARAM: Garbage collection and disposal continues to be a daunting challenge for administrators and elected representatives in the urban and rural local bodies in the southern suburbs of Chennai.

The problem that was once under control now seems to be blowing out of proportions. Despite orders from the Madras High Court, garbage continues to be burnt at Pallikaranai marshland in the area converted into “Perungudi dumping ground” for a few thousand tonnes of garbage generated in the Chennai Corporation.

A ride through some of the arterial roads will only indicate the extent to which the problem of garbage dumping and burning has become deep-rooted.

At the Keelkattalai junction of Medavakkam Main Road and Pallavaram – Thoraipakkam Radial Road, garbage is dumped on a water channel below a bridge and burnt throughout the day. Garbage is dumped on the fringes of Pallavaram ‘periya eri’ and set on fire.

Thick layers of black, obnoxious and toxic fumes continue to envelop the residential areas located around the dumping yards in Tambaram and Pallikaranai.

In smaller rural pockets of Tambaram taluk, the fringes of lakes and waterbodies seem to be the only option for village panchayat staff to dump garbage.

Members of civic groups said the problem had reached such alarming levels that they feared handling it might go out of control in the months to come.

The delay in making it mandatory for households to segregate garbage at source, creating massive facilities to compost kitchen waste and in replicating the Pammal model of government-private-public and NGO participation solid waste management could soon spell disaster. Last week, members of the Communist Party of India and residents of West Tambaram staged a protest urging municipal authorities and the State government to stop dumping of garbage in Kannadapalayam.

Recently, the Commissionerate of Town Panchayats issued a 10-point charter to executive officers of all town panchayats that included creation of 50 small compost pits in hotels and educational institutions; 10 to 15 cubicles in open areas, along roads and near parks; 10 vermi pits with thatched roofs within the town panchayat limits; issuing notices to hotels, marriage halls and companies to place drums and pulling them up for non compliance and to make street vendors keep gunny bags and shop keepers to have two bins for storing waste.

The charter also included installation of display boards on do’s and don’ts on solid waste management in streets; sell plastic waste to recycling units; organising a one-time door-to-door plastic collection drive through street beautifiers and self-help group members; checking the end point of hospital and slaughter houses waste and to distribute handbills to students of all schools to create awareness among children and more importantly, their parents.

The executive officers were also urged to use the skills of solid waste management experts, voluntary organisations and other private agencies to ensure “100 per cent clean and green towns.”

Members of civic groups in Medavakkam said similar guidelines should be extended to municipalities that have not adopted sound solid waste management practices and to village panchayats, that were rural in character, but where garbage generation was equally high.

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