Municipality seals bins as residents fail to segregate waste in Tambaram

Initially, the local body had set up 150 dustbins at various places in Tambaram and directed the residents to segregate the garbage before dumping them inside the assigned bins.

However, as the people failed to segregate the waste properly, the Municipality sealed all the bins in the area recently. Instead, the people were told that workers would collect the waste from their homes every day. However, according to the residents here, garbage was not being collected regularly, due to which, most of them have started to dump it on the road. “Even if we complain, there is no proper response from the municipal staff,” claimed a resident.

Residents are irked that there is not even a single bin in street corners, forcing most of them to walk a long way if they are to dispose of their waste. “The municipality should be placing the garbage bins in all the streets. The officials cannot expect us to be crossing four or five streets to dump the waste every day,” Savithiri from Tambaram said.

According to sources, the trouble started a few years ago when the Municipality found fault with the private firm tasked with waste collection and cancelled the contract. Since then, said the people, the residents here have been suffering due to the absence of a proper system. The local body used to collect around 70-80 tonnes of garbage every day.

When contacted, the Tambaram Municipal sanitary officer Moindeen said they were planning to conduct an awareness campaign among the residents, urging them to segregate the garbage and use the bins. “After that, hopefully after the new year, the bins will be opened again,” he said.