The Times of India    31.07.2012

Garbage collection points turn dump yards

CHENNAI: The civic body's garbage collection centres are turning into mini dump yards of their own and fast becoming a breeding ground for mosquitoes and flies.

But with the city reeling from an outbreak of diarrhoea and repeated complaints from residents of Sowcarpet, the Chennai Corporation is dismantling the bright blue aluminium enclosures from several areas and reverting to the old system of placing garbage bins in different parts of a street. Though many enclosures are located on main roads in all 15 zones, they border near residential apartments or houses leaving residents fuming.

Residents of Trivelian Basin Street in Sowcarpet are hoping that the civic body would soon remove the garbage collection point from their area soon. Set up two months ago, the enclosure located opposite a three-storied residential apartment is overflowing with garbage. A few of the apartments have fixed mosquito nets covering their windows. "We have no other option since the enclosure was set up two months ago," says Manish Ghosal, whose balcony is about 12-feet from the enclosure.

The collection centre is also next to a corporation primary health centre which specializes in maternity care and ironically, about 50 metres from the civic body's malaria hospital.

"In the last two months, mosquitoes and house flies have increased," he says. Residents here say the corporation worker does not bother to empty garbage from houses into the large bins and dump it on the ground instead. The corporation lorries that come once a week clear the bins and not the other garbage lying around in the enclosure.

Residents say in the last one week a two-year-old child had contracted diarrhoea. "A public toilet that used to exist near the collection point has been shut as now many homeless people use this place to defecate," says Arihant Jain, another resident.