The Hindu 11.06.2013
Chennai’s waste output crosses 5000-tonne mark
Municipal solid waste collected in Chennai per day has
crossed the 5000-tonne mark. The Chennai Corporation has attributed the
rise in garbage collection to increase in number of workers, night
conservancy and deployment of additional vehicles.
“We
have increased night conservancy in seven zones. Around 3,000
conservancy workers are at work every night. We have also upped the
number of vehicles and workers in all areas. This contributed to the
increase in garbage collection,” said a senior official of Chennai
Corporation.
The increase is in spite of the fact
that night conservancy workers in Tondiarpet, Royapuram, Thiru.Vi.Ka.
Nagar, Anna Nagar, Teynampet, Kodambakkam and Adyar zones have been
unable to collect garbage in many stretches as a lot of people sleep on
the streets, the official said.
The civic body will
devise a strategy to cope with this issue. “Compactors are unable to
enter the streets. So workers are forced to pull bins for a distance
without disturbing those asleep on the road,” said the official.
The
civic body has a total of 493 vehicles for conservancy operations. It
will procure 50 more compactors. In the 12 zones cleaned by the civic
body, 3,437 of the 3,462 tricycles were taken out for conservancy
operations on Monday. As many as 13,285 conservancy workers cleaned the
streets on Monday in the 12 zones as against the requirement of 14,411
workers. However, as many as 16,338 workers are on the rolls.
The
private conservancy operator in Teynampet, Kodambakkam and Adyar
reported that 2,926 of its 3,364 workers were on duty. Around 90.1
percent of its 1,355 tricycles were engaged in conservancy operations.
The civic body has started to remove garbage from transfer stations
across the city on the same day. This has also increased the amount of
garbage taken to Perungudi and Kodungaiyur dumpyards everyday. Earlier,
large amounts of garbage were left to accumulate in transfer stations,
causing health hazard to residents of the neighbourhood.
Corporation officials said the rise was due to more vehicles and workers in conservancy operations.
