The YMCA Grounds in Nandanam, falling under zone XIII of the Chennai Corporation, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended a public meeting of the BJP, was said to be littered with plastic waste on Monday, March 4, 2024, following the meeting. The waste is to now be cleared by a private agency upon a request from the Greater Chennai Corporation.
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Workers of Urbaser Sumeet, the private agency to which Greater Chennai Corporation has outsourced solid waste management in a few zones, are to be deployed on Tuesday, March 5 to clear the venue.
Late on Monday, the workers of the agency were also asked to clear the waste around the venue after 8.30 p.m., when the meeting was expected to be over, according to a source. “Our usual timings are from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. But we were asked to stay back. A special team of about 20 workers including women sweepers and operators of BOVs [Battery Operated Vehicles] of zone XIII were asked to remove garbage around the venue after the public meeting was over,” a sanitary worker revealed, requesting anonymity.
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An official with Urbaser Sumeet, the agency, said following a request from higher authorities of the GCC, they had deployed workers prior to the meeting on Monday, March 4 and for clean-up operations after the meeting. Cumulatively, 120 workers, as part of OCS (Operation Clean Sweep) team, were deployed by the private agency for three days: March 2, 3 and 4 to clean the premises and the periphery. “Roughly 20-30 workers will be cleaning inside the YMCA Grounds on Tuesday, March 5. Bins were provided outside the private ground for the disposal of waste. The total amount of waste can be determined on March 5,” he added.
Food vendors placed stalls alongside the pathway that leads to the meeting arena from the entry and in the parking lot, and water bottles were reportedly handed over to people. Plastic bottles, bagsm covers, flags and food packets were allegedly dumped openly at the venue where the Prime Minister was present with BJP Tamil Nadu president K. Annamalai, Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying and Information and Broadcasting L. Murugan, senior party leaders and party workers.
“The ground belongs to a private party. Normally, in case of heavy waste accumulation, especially of plastic bottles, at a venue after such meetings within the GCC limits, the civic body makes arrangements for garbage removal, even if it is not within its scope, to ensure cleanliness,” a local authority stated.