The Hindu                      04.04.2013 

More vehicles to tackle waste

The Chennai Corporation will soon get Rs. 10 crore for procuring compactors and bins to clear garbage in the city’s added zones.

Municipal administration minister K.P. Munusamy, who announced this on Tuesday in the Assembly, said the expanded areas alone generated 500 tonnes of garbage and additional equipment was necessary to clear this.

The Corporation will procure 50 compactors with a capacity of six tonnes each and 750 compactor bins with a capacity of 1,100 litres each.

At present, 320 compactors, 37 haulage tipper trucks and 177 tipper lorries are deployed across the city to collect and dispose nearly 4,700 metric tonnes of waste every day. A total of 17,026 conservancy workers, both direct and contract labourers, are deployed to carry out operations.

Once the additional vehicles are procured, the civic body would be able to collect 5,200 tonnes of waste, including those in added areas.

According to sources, the requirement for equipment and bins was assessed recently. “There was a shortfall of compactors and bins and so they are being procured now. Meanwhile, to keep the roads and bins clean we have taken vehicles and manpower on contract wherever necessary,” said a source.

The assessment was done ward-wise and zone-wise and a decision had been taken to have a 20 per cent surplus of manpower as well as vehicles since there has always been a shortfall of 20 per cent due to absenteeism and maintenance of vehicles. “In the past there has not been a thorough assessment of men and vehicles for clearing garbage. But now we have ward-wise requirements,” the source explained.

The Hindu                    03.04.2013

Rotten fruits, vegetables pile up on roadsides

S. Ramesh

An unbearable foul smell greets people visiting Nethaji market.

Take a walk down one of the streets connecting the Nethaji market and many other vegetable markets in the town and you’re likely to find yourself looking at heaps of rotting fruit and vegetables dumped on the sides and the drainage channels.

An unbearable foul smell will greet you.

Though the Erode Corporation urged the vendors to put a stop to the illegal dumping, the practice continues in most parts of the town. Tonnes of vegetable and fruit waste end up on the roadsides, and sometime in the drains, as the civic body is not able to ensure regular collection. The wholesale markets and farmers markets (uzhavar santhai) are among the major generators of biodegradable waste.

“The civic body is not ensuring a regular collection at the markets. Sometimes, the waste remains uncollected for two to three days. Hundreds of tonnes of vegetables and fruits are handled in Nethaji market and other markets in the town every day,” R. Sivakumar, a trader points out.

“Even the vendors, who are selling the fruits and vegetables in push carts, dump the unsold vegetables on the streets and drains. The neighbourhood retail stores also often resort to the dumping of unsold, rotting vegetables on the streets.

As the civic body is not collecting waste properly, heaps of waste remain uncollected for days together, posing serious threat to the public health,” points out S.A. Chandran, a resident Surampatty.

Civic officials agree that the practice of dumping fruit and vegetable waste is a problem of long standing in the town.

Truck and van operators, who transport the vegetables and fruits to the markets, are the main culprits.

They dump the goods on the roadsides that are not accepted by the traders in the market.

Corporation Commissioner M. Vijayalakshmi promised that steps would be taken to collect waste multiple times in a day at the markets and selected places in the town.