The Cheranalloor panchayat has strengthened the drive against eateries and other establishments that dump garbage near the Vaduthala overbridge in the wake of alleged attempts to demoralise officials of the panchayat who maintain vigil against the practice.
“Different methods are being used to demoralise us including Sunday’s incident in which a man used abusive words and indulged in moral policing to deter panchayat officials and local residents who were maintaining night vigil near the bridge,” said Mallika V.R., secretary of Cheranalloor panchayat. “That this was done on International Women’s Day was even more abhorring than the act of dumping waste. We have identified a few people who dump garbage here.”
We had nabbed many people on the basis of CCTV footage and information provided by local residents. They were fined ₹2,000, while those who dump garbage into waterbodies could be fined ₹10,000. Such grave violations are being done although workers deployed by the panchayat are collecting garbage from households and shops on a daily basis. There were also instances of miscreants damaging the CCTV system.
“The premises of the bridge are strewn with layers of garbage, although we had cleaned up the area a fortnight ago,” Ms. Mallika said.
