SUBBED, pravinChennai: The banks of river Cooum at Nolambur are a testament to Greater Chennai Corporation’s poor Swachh Bharat rankings. Waste from wards 91, 92, and 93 lies rotting in the open.In December last year, following a story in TOI, GCC removed at least 10 bins and converted the stretch into a riverside park. However, a garbage transfer station remained at the site and it had fewer bins to hold 100 to 150 tonnes of garbage for up to 48 hours.Now, the park is a pigsty. At least four pigs feed on the garbage and a dozen cows pull waste onto the road.At least 50,000 residents of Mogappair, Nolambur, Golden George Nagar, and Padikuppam use this road to reach Poonamallee High Road. There are about four gated communities opposite nearby and students from Dr MGR University use the road as well.Ward 93 councillor Uma Santhanam said they were identifying land to shift the garbage sortingstation elsewhere. “We will slowly remove all the garbage bins. When we caught the pigs last week, the herders came in huge numbers and beat up a few officials, including the sanitary inspectors. We will file a police complaint against them,” she said.GCC has also closed all wet waste processing centres, including micro-composting centres and vermi composting centres in these wards. “This has resulted in fresh waste directly being dumped here. Even if people segregate, GCC workers dump them in the open. GCC should reopen the composting centres so at least wet waste is reduced,” said K Radhika of Mogappair East.ENDS MSID:: 122798478 413 |
