The Hindu       21.07.2016 

Garbage poses health hazard to residents

Irregular clearance of garbage in various parts of the district has been posing a serious health hazard for the past few months resulting in foul smell. The garbage is not being cleared daily and regularly but only on a weekly basis at several places, say the residents.

While Karaikal is a municipal town, the other major local bodies – Neravy, Nedungadu, Kottucherry, Tirunallar and T.R. Pattinam — are commune panchayats in the district.

Given the strong seasonal winds, the garbage is found strewn all around the residential areas in the town as well as Kottucherry and Nedungadu.

The worst-hit is the Nedungadu Commune Panchyat where the panchayat workers, including the conservancy workers, desist from clearing the garbage. The workers claimed non-disbursement of salary for the past few months had forced them to resort to relay strike.

Jaisingh, president of the Government Employees Federation, said that the workers were left with no option but to resort to the strike.

He said that paucity of funds stood in the way for disbursing the salary to the employees.

There has been an increase in the volume of garbage, particularly waste food, meat, parotta and plastic waste, says N. Gandhirajan, Municipal Commissioner, Karaikal.

He told The Hindu that the municipality handled 50 tonnes of solid waste daily, which was just 35 tonnes a couple of years ago.

“The increase in the number of residential colonies in the town has contributed to the rise in the volume of garbage,” he added.

Facing the difficulty in segregating the degradable and non-degradable waste materials, the municipality has planned to introduce door-to-door collection of bio-degradable and non-degradable waste in a couple of months, he added.

Polythene waste was a major problem in the town, partly due to the presence of a large number of bars.