Isn’t it ironic that sometimes a ‘no parking’ signboard is hidden by abandoned vehicles, thereby ruling out the possibility of conscientious citizens following its instruction?
On St. Mary’s Road, one is greeted by such an irony. The presence of a disturbing number of abandoned vehicles on this road underlines how neglected it is.
A section of the road, stretching from the canal to the beginning of V.C. Garden Street, is a picture of squalor.
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Residents living directly opposite the cemetery have been working individually and also with Jeth Nagar Residents Association (JERA) to keep this stretch clean.
However, their persistent efforts have proved Sisyphean, due to the irregular participation of Greater Chennai Corporation and Ramky Enviro Ltd officials.
“If I raise a complaint or personally call them, these officials ensure the street is cleaned immediately. But, the very next day, we encounter the same problem. It is really exhausting to run behind everyone of them to have over-flowing bins,” says Ravi Nandyala, member of JERA.
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To tackle the problem of garbage accumulation in the locality, two movable CCTV cameras will be pressed into service in a few days, says Nandyala.
Remote-controlled, these cameras which will be placed in target areas such as D’silva Road, Bheemena Murali Street and the starting point of St Mary’s Road near the canal. “These cameras will be shifted every three days and moved to other places such as 3rd Cross Street and 1st Main Road to catch people who dump garbage on the road. The Mylapore MLA visited the area four days ago and ensured that all the commercial vehicles on St Mary’s Road were removed. However, the next day, all these vehicles were back,” adds Ravi.
This stretch is an example of what can happen when there isn’t sufficient coordination between the Corporation, police and a conservancy agency.
Though residents notify police officials about unauthorised parking through the citizen’s WhatsApp group, action is taken only on a temporary basis. Drivers park their vehicles on the stretch, again.
“Construction debris is dumped behind the vehicles and it gets mixed with garbage. As our contract allows us to only collect garbage, we don’t clear this. As vehicles are parked, the workers are not able to clear the accumulated garbage,” says a Ramky Enviro official.