Citizen Connect: Garbage stench outside school disturbs students, teachers

Lack of public dustbins has led to piles of garbage being dumped on the streets in the Razack Garden Road locality in Arumbakkam. The carelessly dumped waste is also disposed of along the side of a school, which makes it difficult for students to battle the odour and walk through the area.

“Garbage from nearby residential areas is dumped along Daniel Thomas Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Arumbakkam’s Razack Garden Road. Despite various efforts by school management, residents continue to create the garbage menace, causing inconvenience to the students and school authorities,” says Ebenezer David, a member of the school management.

Teachers rue that despite the school management’s efforts, they are forced to inhale the stench from the dumped garbage outside the school, while taking classes.

The school authorities had placed barricades to prevent garbage from being dumped near the school, but that did not work either, as trash continued to be disposed at the spot. The school had also placed a board that read, “Please don’t drop your garbage here,” but ironically, residents dumped their litter near the board too.

The foul odour near the classrooms also causes inconvenience to and hardships for the students. The situation worsens during the monsoon as the garbage strewn on the road not only creates a stink but also increases the risk of infections being spread.

“We try to avoid walking on the roads because it becomes very dirty after rains and one finds puddles everywhere. We have to take a longer route to enter from a different entrance as the dumped waste makes the area around the usual entrance unhygienic,” says Ravita, a student of the school. G Ramesh, a resident of the locality says, “The school authorities had placed a dustbin along with the support of corporation workers far away from the school. But, the dustbin was soon damaged, and the residents now again dump garbage near the school building.”

When the authorities in Anna Nagar zone were contacted, the zonal officer said they would place more dustbins in the area, if required, to tackle the problem.