Highway stretches at various parts of the district are becoming convenient places to dump hospital and meat waste or just domestic garbage by the passing vehicles. Residents in the area are demanding immediate steps to stop the practice.
Vacant lands on the busy Salem-Bengaluru highway stretch, outside the city, are becoming convenient places for waste collectors to dump meat and hospital waste. Residents here complain that during night, passing vehicles, mostly from other States, dump waste along the stretch and flee from there. They also alleged that at times, defaulters also used to burn the waste here which includes plastic materials like used syringes and glucose bottles and foul odour emanates from them.
According to sources, waste dumping is mostly noticed at places near Omalur-Puliyampatty flyover, Vellakapatti and nearby areas here. Shakthi, one of the residents near Omalur alleged, “All kinds of waste are also dumped nearby the Highway stretches here and at times some do indulge in burning it. The vehicles dump the waste during the night so that they would not get noticed. Officials must take immediate action regarding this.”
According to official sources, as part of its solid waste management efforts, the town panchayat has door to door waste collection system and the collected waste is segregated into degradable and biodegradable waste which is later converted into manure.
A senior district administration official said, “based on such complaints earlier, we conducted drives during the night in the area and such issues were not reported until recently. We will intensify such surveillance drives and take steps to prevent dumping of waste.”
