Peeved Chitlapakkam residents go CCTV way to identify litterers
Tired of finding trash indiscriminately dumped on the street corners, residents of Chitlapakkam have found a new way to tackle the offenders – by looking at the footage from the CCTV cameras installed in the neighbourhood!
By : migrator
Update: 2017-02-07 18:33 GMT
Chennai
Sunil Jayaram, a resident of Chitlapakkam, said that despite the presence of street bins and daily door-to-door collection, people have been dumping trash on the street corners. “We have been trying to find who the offenders are. Whenever we see these street corners filled with trash, we organise a clean-up and put signboards requesting people not to throw garbage here.
This has worked well in Anna Street and near Rajarajeshwari Nagar. But in many other places, this is not the case. Then, we saw the CCTV cameras installed in at least 20 street corners where we have been facing this problem,” he said. A group of residents then approached the Police Station to access the footage.
“However, we found that most of these CCTV cameras were privately installed by the residents. We are in the process of collecting the footage. Once we find the persons who are throwing garbage on the street corners, we will print out their faces and publicly request them not to dirty our locality,” added Sunil. Udaya U, a 27-year-old entrepreneur, said this has become a routine.
“People mindlessly throw the garbage into the street corners, even if there is a dustbin nearby. People want the garbage out of their homes but they don’t care if it affects the environment. The trash, which is thrown in plastic bags, are harmful for cows and dogs on the street. It also leads to a severe mosquito menace in our locality,” he said.
Trash attracts rodents
Dharmesh Shah, a waste policy expert, said overflowing garbage in street corners will attract rodents and flies. “This will lead to the fear of vector borne issues. The other problem is of leachate, due to organic waste dumped along with general trash. The leachate will seep into the ground and can even impact the groundwater. The overflowing garbage can also end up in drains and waterways, causing water stagnation and a mosquito proble
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