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100 tonnes of garbage cleared from beaches

Monday, 18 January 2010 01:14
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The Hindu 18.01.2010

100 tonnes of garbage cleared from beaches

 

Aloysius Xavier Lopez

Workers sweat it out a day after ‘Kaanum Pongal’

— Photo: R. Ragu

SAD SIGHT: A view of the Marina after the ‘Kaanum Pongal’ celebrations on Saturday.

CHENNAI: People who visited the beaches of Chennai on Saturday to celebrate ‘Kaanum Pongal’ left more than 100 tonnes of garbage on the sands.

Conservancy workers found it tough to cope with the piling up of garbage and keep the beach clean on Saturday as visitors kept littering the area. More than 125 conservancy workers of the Chennai Corporation and Neel Metal Fanalca worked the whole night to clean the beaches, including Marina and Elliots, as the number of visitors increased considerably, according to officials.

P. Jyothi Raj, one of the workers said, “Even as we were removing garbage people were continuing to litter the beach. We had to work from the evening of ‘Kaanum Pongal’ till 4 a.m. on Sunday to clean the area under the guidance of officials.” People continued their celebrations till midnight and continued to throw plastic bottles, spoons and polythene bags, he said.

Cleaning of the beach would have been easier if more people had used the waste bins, said Mr. Raj.

Around 15 compactor bins and 25 collection bins were used to collect waste but people were reluctant to use the bins for disposal of waste, said an official.

Most people seemed to have forgotten the ban on plastics on the Marina and more than three tonnes of plastic waste was collected on Saturday, he added.

The collection of plastic waste in Elliots Beach was lesser when compared to that of last year and there was an increase in collection from the Marina Beach.

Transportation of waste to collection centres was also a challenge, said S. Balakrishnan, a driver of the waste collecting vehicle of Neel Metal Fanalca.

During normal days, the frequency of operating the vehicle is two hours per load of garbage. But, during ‘Kaanum Pongal’ this year a load of garbage was transported in 30 minutes and there were three helpers per vehicle. Usually only one helper is available for a vehicle during normal days.

Last Updated on Monday, 18 January 2010 01:15
 

Stress on waste management

Sunday, 17 January 2010 04:42
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The Hindu 17.01.2010

Stress on waste management

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: M. Periasamy.

WITH A MESSAGE: President of Parampariyam Muthu Murugan (left) distributes handbills on source segregation of waste during a walk taken out by his organisation in Coimbatore recently. —
Last Updated on Sunday, 17 January 2010 04:45
 

Separate tax book suggested for unauthorised buildings

Sunday, 17 January 2010 04:36
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The Hindu 17.01.2010

Separate tax book suggested for unauthorised buildings

Special Correspondent

COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore Consumer Cause, a consumer welfare organisation, has suggested to the Coimbatore Corporation that it could issue separate Property Tax books to unauthorised buildings.

In a letter to Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra, secretary of the consumer organisation K. Kathirmathiyon pointed out that many residential apartments were constructed without any approval for the entire structure. While the Corporation was taking action against other unauthorised buildings, it should act against violations in the apartments also.

The letter said that the Corporation was categorising such buildings as 100 per cent deviation and not unauthorised. The collection of Property Tax led the flat owners to believe that the entire building was approved by the authority concerned. Banks also provided loans based on the registration documents and Property Tax assessment, he said.

Violations

Most of those who bought the flats did not know of the violations or that an entire apartment was unauthorised. This information was not passed on to them when they purchased the flats. Therefore, the Corporation should issue a red tax book for these buildings. This would enable the people know of the actual status of the buildings. The words “unauthorised construction” should be printed on the cover of the book, Mr. Kathirmathiyon suggested.

At the same time, the Corporation was collecting the penalty for deviation from approved plan under the “tax” category. A separate column for penalty should be provided in the tax book, Mr. Kathirmathiyon said.

As for the trend of constructing apartments without plan approval, he said it was surprising that an apartment with 50 flats had come up at R.S. Puram without approval. The construction of apartments should be seen as a commercial venture and it must be stopped in case there was no approval for the building.

Last Updated on Sunday, 17 January 2010 04:39
 
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