With open dumping of garbage continuing in the city, the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation workers and officials struggle to find solutions for unsegregated waste.
Giri Devi, a resident in Aavarampalayam, said that since the sanitary worker in the nearby ward is strict, people come to the bridge over the water channel [Sangnoor Pallam in wards 28, 48], and throw the waste around the bins, rather than inside.
Another resident of Ward 30 alleged that they are forced to throw the waste and not hand it over to workers, since there is no regular collection service, especially near Rathinapuri. “They arrive after 9 a.m. when there is nobody at home. If we keep the waste outside, dogs tear the covers to rummage through the leftovers creating a mess. Hence, we throw them in the bins.”
K. Senthinathan, a conservancy worker for six years, said that food and meat waste and hazardous medical waste are a daily sight in the pile they collect in the open.
“People dump it on the go, especially near water bodies such as the Sanganoor Pallam channels. Repeated attempts to inform them on the loudspeaker have not helped. Needless to say, the odour is intolerable. Yet, we have to collect the waste. Many have yelled at us when we request them to segregate waste. This illegal practice invites stray dogs into residential areas. The chances of these animals becoming rabid by taking the stale meat and food is high, thereby adding to the problem.”
C. Jaya, a supervisor at the Material Recovery Facility near Tatabad under Ward 32, says only with a dedicated team for supervising the CCTV footage can the civic body stop the violators before they throw the waste and impose fines on the spot.
“On an average, about four to five tonnes are collected by workers each day from each ward. The number may be higher in the added areas since the awareness there is lesser. Public dump even in places declared as a clean zone,” he added.
This implies that over 40% of the total 1,250 tonnes of waste generated per day is unsegregated and sent to the dump yard directly, due to open dumping.
A senior official of the Health Department stated, “Door-to-door collection is done by 9 a.m. Waste from residents, who hand it over unsegregated is rejected by the conservancy workers. The workers cannot wait for spot segregation as some may be assigned 200 households and need to move on. Now, these residents throw the garbage when they come out and a few eateries and commercial shops throw waste in open spaces at midnight.”
The Corporation is taking steps such as sapling planting in such places, installing nets and placing warning signs indicating that the area is under surveillance by CCTV cameras and fines will be imposed, if they throw waste in public areas and roadsides, he added.
Over 30 hotspots were identified, so far, where over 10 tonnes of waste is openly disposed of and more will be noted in the coming days. :We are in talks with private agencies to identify a solution for this issue,” he added.
