The move by the municipal body to put up makeshift garbage collection points at road corners, otherwise called as ‘group bins’, has added to the existing woes of garbage piling. Residents blame the blue-sheeted enclosures for providing space for mosquitoes to breed.
Officials at the Corporation said the ‘group bins’ have been erected across the city since January, were supposed to serve as mini garbage collection points. Each of these enclosures catered to a few streets, from where the conservancy workers collect the waste in tricycles and dump them in the several bins racked inside the sheeted space. This is then cleared by the large compactors that the Corporation uses.
However, while the set up was brought in to make easy the process of garbage collection, it seems to have backfired. Residents across several localities said that while the garbage is dumped in the enclosures, the workers sometime fail to clear it for days together, raising an unbearable stink.
When City Express inspected a few of these ‘group bins’ in Egmore, Mylapore, Triplicane and Vyasarpadi, heaps of garbage were seen uncleared. In several bins, stagnant water from recent rains provided the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes.
“You must come in the evening time and have a look. Thousands of mosquitoes swarm around the area. No wonder we see cases of malaria in the locality,” said Abdul Rehman, a book shop owner on the Bells Road.
Residents said that enclosures have become temporary toilets, especially for drunkards. “There is a TASMAC shop nearby. If you come here by 9 pm, you will see a number of people using this as a space for drinking and then as toilets. The stench is just too much to bear,” said Vijaya, a resident of Triplicane.
When contacted, officials dismissed some of the claims of the residents and said the ‘group bins were constantly cleared.
“The enclosures are cleared out according to schedule. Once the conservancy work is over, we have asked the workers to lock the enclosures so that it is not used for any other purpose. However, if there are such complaints, we will rework the compactors’ schedule and ensure proper enforcement of maintenance work,” said a senior officer, adding that residents sometime dump garbage outside these enclosures.
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