The Hindu            15.10.2013

Festival leaves roads in Salem city littered

Garbage dumped at Chinna Kadai Veethi in Salem on Monday. (Right) Ash gourds flung on Bhavani Main Road in Erode after puja causing danger to motorists. —PHOTOs: E. LAKSHMI NARAYANAN and M. Govarthan

Plastics, wastes dumped on roads as part of cleaning for pujas.

Tonnes of degradable and non-degradable wastes collected from houses, offices, shops and commercial establishments were heaped alongside the busy main roads in the city.

Dumping of the huge quantity of wastes as part of cleaning carried out from Friday for pujas made their houses and establishments clean, while it made the main roads open dumping grounds for such wastes.

This affected shopkeepers, road users and houses close to which garbage was dumped in large quantities. “Lots of plastic and other wastes were dumped from the late hours of Friday as people started cleaning their premises. It continued till Sunday afternoon. On Monday, offices and vehicle users started dumping the banana trees that they tied in front of their office and vehicles”, says L. Narayanan of Old Bus Stand.

J. Srinivsan of Bazaar Street expressed the need for having more bins in market places to avoid open dumping.

“Clearing the garbage frequently during festive seasons could be of help in clearing the garbage in a timely manner. This would avoid stagnation of wastes and the inconveniences caused to the residents, road users and shop keepers”, he added.

Salem Corporation authorities who claim that the daily garbage generated in the city is around 320 tonnes, they said that the garbage collected during the puja season is manifold compared to the quantity collected on regular days.

They recalled that the Corporation recently passed a resolution to procure trucks and garbage bins required to maintain the city clean at an estimate Rs. 4.8 crore.