The garbage bin is seldom placed at the right place. When it is, nobody cares. The trash is carelessly thrown around the bin. In certain areas, people take the trouble to dump their waste in the bin, but the bin being too small for the quantum of waste generated by the neighbourhood, it overflows.
This, in short, sums up a smelly problem faced by residents of Alwarpet, CIT Colony and Abiramapuram.
Residents of BM Garden Street, near the Abiramapuram police station, have to face unbearable stench caused by garbage strewn all around the bin.
E. Muralidharan, an activist and a resident of Alwarpet, says, “The bin is placed at the entrance of the Corporation institution, which has a balwadi, a primary school and higher secondary school. The staff at the balwadi often complain about swarming mosquitoes.
This bin is meant to serve more than 100 hosues and many commercial fast food joints. These joints dump huge food wastes here, which is the main reason for overflowing garbage.
We have written several letters to the Corporation about this, but no action has been taken. People live in these areas for years, but the conditions have worsened as the area has become a hotspot for commercial businesses and establishments. The number of dustbins is not enough and the carelessly thrown waste becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes,” he says.
Many also complain that dustbins are not placed in convenient areas. A dustbin at Avvai Shanmugan Salai, a busy stretch, has a bin that covers a considerable section of the road.
“Firstly, the road is congested during peak hours as the motorists have to dodge around the bin. When a heavy vehicle passes, the traffic comes to a standstill. Often the entire road is littered as the garbage from the overflowing bin is scattered on the stretch due to moving vehicles,” says V. Amrita.
For many months now, Sri Vidya, a resident of Sriman Srinivasa Road in Alwarpet, has been waking up to the sight of garbage. A road where there are 25 individual houses, three apartments, two banks and over half a dozen offices, has only one dustbin. Unfortunately, it is placed right outside her house.
“Apart from the residential houses, all the commercial establishments dump their waste here, including the restaurants. The bin is cleared thrice a day — in the morning, in the afternoon and at night. However, when I step out of our gate at 5.30 a.m., the garbage is on the road and reaches our doorsteps. From medical wastes to food leftovers, everything is scattered on the road,” she says.
She has written several letters to the Corporation requesting that the bin be relocated or more bins be installed, but all in vain. “Sometimes, getting out of the house becomes difficult and the situation worsens during the December season,” she says.
Also, residents of CIT Colony have been repeatedly complaining about the lack of dustbins in their area. “There is only one dustbin for the many residents living on the First and Second Main Road. There are restaurants in the locality and everyone is forced to use the same bin, which fills up in no time and it piles up on the road. Even the restaurants dump the leftovers making the area stinky and unhealthy,” says a resident of CIT Colony First Main Road.
