Five green overflowing garbage bins welcome students to the Chennai Primary School at Dr. Besant Road on Triplicane High Road. Behind the bins is a transformer that stands as tall as the school building. The bins outside the school seem to be the transition point for conservancy staff to load waste.
It is a huge concern for the school management and parents, who are tired of representing the problem to the local authorities. Sometimes cows and dogs can be seen digging into the pile of garbage. On Thursday, a few rag pickers were rummaging through the waste.
“It gets worse around 8.30 a.m., when the Corporation vans come to collect the waste. Children are forced to walk into school amidst an overpowering smell of garbage ,” says an aaya working in the Anganwadi. Close to 100 children study in the school that has Urdu and Tamil medium, and the Anganwadi.
“Apart from the stench, the bins are breeding sites for mosquitoes. Children are more prone to contracting vector-borne diseases such as dengue,,” says A. Shamshad Begum, who comes every day to pick her grandson from the Anganwadi.
D. Vijay Ramakrishna, councillor, Zone 6, says there is no alternative place on this street as the interior roads are too narrow for Ramky’s vehicles to enter. “The stretch is dotted with commercial establishments and none will agree for the bins to be placed outside their premise,” he adds.
About the transformer, school authorities say it was placed before the school was set up and getting it removed will be a challenge. The windows of the classroom facing the transformer are generally shut.
They say written representation has been given to the Corporation and the councillor, but nothing has been done.
According to T. Sadagopan, consumer activist, the school management should raise an objection before a transformer is erected outside its premises. If it is a private school, there is a provision where it can suggest an alternative place and the shifting charges will have to be borne by the management. “In case of a Corporation school, the Commissioner has the power to see that the transformer is shifted for the safety of the children,” he says.
