While Madurai Corporation authorities maintain that 125 tonnes of segregated waste is collected every Wednesday, residents of several wards complain that door-to-door collection never took place.
Some of the residents in Sellur, Arapalayam, Munichalai, K. Pudur and Baskaradoss Nagar claimed on Saturday that waste segregation was rarely done. Commissioner of Municipal Administration G. Prakash, during a review meeting conducted on November 1, said dengue outbreak was well under control and public health was the primary focus.
U. Sugapriya, a resident of West Ponnagaram 12th Street, said conservancy workers showed up only twice a week to clear garbage from bins.
Garbage ovedflowed from the bin on Ponnagaram Broadway.
“Workers could never distinguish between biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste. They collect them together,” she said.
R. Manivannan from Munichalai said waste segregation process began in right earnest in June.
“In the heart of the city, particularly near Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, workers and authorities insisted on waste segregation. We were discouraged from mixing plastic with domestic kitchen waste. Some workers came to our street and even explained how to segregate waste. Now it is all lost,” he said.
N. Raju of M.C. Colony off Tamil Sangam Road, which houses many conservancy workers, said residents too did not take the effort to segregate plastic waste from other waste.
“On several occasions, we have been told to mind our business and toss the garbage they give into the bins,” he said.
Other workers in the colony said stringent measures must be taken by the Corporation to ensure proper waste collection. But they also pointed out shortage of manpower.
A worker said he was asked to sweep roads and also drive a small tractor that picked up waste. “I mark myself present in the office at 5.30 a.m. and work until 11 a.m. I do the evening shift from 2 p.m to 6 p.m. again. It is really hard to juggle between two or three assigned duties at once,” he said.
A senior official of the Public Health Department of of Madurai Corporation admitted that there was a shortage of manpower.
The population of Madurai in 2011 was 17 lakh. The total number of households were 5.6 lakh. “The number of sanitary workers are 4,466.
They can, at the most, clear garbage from about 3.7 lakh households,” the officer said.
He added that without cooperation and encouragement from residents, it would be difficult to implement the garbage segregation initiative successfully.
