Citizen Connect: Residents suffer as Ramapuram lacks accessible and usable garbage bins

“I have to walk for 10 minutes from my house to find a dustbin. We used to have one at the end of our street but it was removed in order to make way for the construction of a tea shop there. Even the garbage bins in the area are not in a good condition. The waste overflows onto the roads, attracting strays to feed on them. There is a lack of hygiene and cleanliness as these bins are rarely cleaned,” said Kalpana K, a residentof Sentamil Nagar.

“We come to know if the bins were cleared from the bleaching powder sprinkled around it. Even then, plastic covers and waste can be found lying beneath the bins. The area is never cleaned properly,” said Vishnu M, another resident.

Residents recalled that sanitation workers used to visit houses regularly on a fixed time to collect and segregate the waste. This, however, has become irregular now.

“Last week, I saw a dead cat near the bin and it was not a pleasant sight. It took almost three days for the staff to clear the mess. It is a serious issue because we are all facing garbage disposal crisis as the area lacks accessible and usable garbage bins,” said Gopi Krishnan, a resident of Kothari Nagar.

The residents’ main request was timely removal of waste from Corporation bins and a regular door-to-door collection of trash.

“They banned plastics first and now they don’t visit our houses to collect waste. How do they expect us to carry trash all the way to the dustbin? Sanitation workers tell us that they are not sent to collect waste by their higher officials. It becomes very unhygienic when we accumulate bags of waste in our balconies till they pick it up from us,” said Harijothi, another resident.

Speaking to DT Next, a corporation official said, “We are instructed to remove dustbins from the streets and ask sanitation workers to collect the waste twice a day. We keep monitoring the area and make sure we clear the garbage daily. We will take immediate steps.”