Chennai: The infamous corporation trucks, often blamed for fatal accidents endangering motorists’ lives, will soon have restricted time for collection of garbage from the streets. The trucks, which usually start rolling out by 6.30 am and continue their work till 6 pm, will now have revised timings.

These heavy trucks will not ply during school and peak hours. “The lorries and trucks will collect garbage from the bins from 10.30 am and wind up operations by 4.30 pm aimed to reduce accidents.

Then the vehicles will go to the dumpyards to unload them,” said a senior official at the corporation. However, other small vehicles will function from morning and the timings of conservancy staff who run tricycles and sweep the streets will remain unchanged.

“This applies only for the garbage trucks and compactors and the revised work timings will come into force by next month,” the official said.

“Trial runs have been begun in Alandur zone and the workers have to sweat a bit more to finish the work within the stipulated time, but the new schedule will help prevent accidents,” he added. In addition to the new timings, the civic body will also introduce a speed governance technique in which the lorries will be fitted with GPS facilities.

The time of setting out for work and finishing the duty will be monitored. The facility will also help track drivers who overspeed. “The compactors, when crossing the roads leave a heavy stench of garbage which remains even after the vehicle passes. The civic body must take some measures to reduce this,” said Mahesh Kumar, a resident of Ashok pillar.

Chennai: With Kodungaiyur and Perungudi dumpyards moving towards the end of their lifetime, the Che­nnai Corporation is toying with a new strategy to dispose the daily ga­rbage being collected in the city — setting up biomethanation plants.

The corporation is planning to set up one biomethanation plant in each of its 200 wards and produce biogas through the segregated waste collected from the localities. In a pilot basis, one plant will be installed in every zone.

“Every zone will be getting one biomethanation plant within three months and ‘expression of interests’ will be invited soon,” said a top official at the corporation.

“To begin with, the gas produced will be used for cooking purposes in the nearby corporation canteens and anganwadi ce­ntres. The tough part is source segregation wh­ich needs support from the public,” the official pointed out.

Each biomethanation plant would cost nearly 25 lakh for installation. While speaking on the idea of producing elec­tric­ity from garbage, the official said, “The sch­eme involves processes similar to that of incineration (burning of gar­bage) which leads to pollution. However, biogas production is comparatively more eco friendly.”

The Kodungaiyur dum­pyard collects up to 2,300 metric tones of waste every day, while the Peru­ngudi site collects up to 2,400 metric tones of garbage. The biomethanation project if implemented will reduce the garbage dumped at these yards and will also be used for other purposes.

“If the corporation is going to reach out to every home for collecting the waste for the biomethanation plants, it must also make sure that the location of civic these facilities does not hinder transport in our area,” said S. Aditya, a resident of Thiru.Vi.Ka. Nagar.