At a time when plans for garbage treatment facilities —centralised or otherwise — for the capital city remain resolutely on paper, the indiscriminate dumping of garbage by the wayside is making life miserable for people in many parts of the city.
The latest addition to this list of hapless sufferers are those who come by the Sree Kanchipuram Madan Kovil near the Karamana bridge. The road by the side of the temple has become a garbage dump these days with even animal waste from illegal slaughterhouses finding their way here.
M.S. Mani, a spokesperson for the temple committee, said crows and eagles picked up such waste and deposited them in the temple compound and even on top of the well from which water is drawn for the temple rituals. Devotees had to put up with unbearable stench from the garbage heap.
Whenever it rained, part of the garbage flowed onto the road in front of the temple entrance and into the Karamana river.
This not only caused huge difficulties to those who entered the temple but also to those who came to bathe in the ghat.
Vehicles seized by the Karamana police had been parked for long near this place and many used this as a cover for throwing garbage here.
Even though these issues have been brought to the attention of the Corporation and the district authorities many times, no remedial action had been taken, Mr. Mani added.