Friends of Chennai, a social initiative, was The Hindu’s gift to the city on its 375th birthday. FoC seeks to serve as a vehicle for residents’ hopes and concerns about the city. Today’s column takes a look at the garbage woes that
Residents of the city seem to have given up their war against problems caused by garbage, and are now taking to social media to vent their displeasure.

They cite the government’s failure in implementing legal provisions to govern solid waste management and the delay in identifying alternative sites to existing dumping grounds as the primary reasons for the problems.

Sharing their experiences through Friends of Chennai, readers also cite the absence of a comprehensive study on solid waste management and frequent changes in policy decisions for the garbage woes having assumed menacing proportions.

“Our locality suffers from loads of problems relating to garbage and water logging,” says Amit Jain of Sowcarpet, adding that the Chennai Corporation should clean streets periodically.

Councillor D. Subash Chandra Bose, of the opposition party DMK, says bins are yet to be procured for most wards in north Chennai. “Most streets do not have bins, and garbage trucks do not arrive on time,” he says.

Sarfaraz H., another resident, says, “Garbage is the biggest problem and water logging increases when garbage blocks drains.”

Kodungaiyur resident Sri Vivek says pollution from the dumping yard bothers the locality. “From a small dumping site, Kodungaiyur has grown rapidly over the last two decades. We get garbage from several Corporation zones. Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board records indicate the yard is illegal, has no authorisation from environmental regulators, and is in violation of the Municipal Solid Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 2000,” he says.

“The landfill site is near habitation clusters, forest areas and water bodies. Kodungaiyur is a wetland and around one lakh people live here,” says Mr. Vivek. He stresses the need for development-free buffer zones around landfill sites.

Arvind Kumar Sethuraman, another resident, points out that huge piles of garbage are dumped in front of places of cultural and religious importance. Often, garbage is not collected from bins placed near Shankara Matham on Mayor Chittibabu Street in Triplicane, he says.

Following complaints from residents, the Chennai Corporation is planning to send one official to each ward to screen localities with garbage issues, on a daily basis. The officials will start work next week and will be held responsible for any problems.