Cyclone Fengal: Over 7,800 MT garbage, debris cleared from Chennai
Civic body workers doubled down their efforts to clear fallen trees and construction waste, and reopened parks on Monday evening.
The Marina Beach shore was covered by trash after the storm which was cleaned by Corporation workers on Monday (Photo: Justin George)
CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has collected more than 7,000 metric tonnes of garbage and debris in the last two days after Cyclone Fengal made landfall. The local body has deployed additional workers and intensified the cleaning in the city.
Several trees and branches had fallen due to heavy rains in the capital, and these were cleared by civic body workers using tree-cutting machines. The debris was immediately removed by Corporation vehicles, and cleaning operations were carried out at the affected sites.
As many as 9,002 sanitation workers removed 3,942 MT of waste and 255.02 MT of construction debris on Sunday. On Monday, around 2 pm, 3,680.03 MT of waste and construction debris had been cleared. These cleaning operations are continuing at full pace.
Civic body workers cleaning the interior roads and streets on Monday afternoon
As per GCC data on December 1, the highest amount of waste was collected from Royapuram (Zone 5) with 631.04 MT, followed by Teynampet (Zone 9) 406.47 MT, and Anna Nagar (Zone 8) 354.67 MT. There was zero waste from Manali (Zone 2), and the least waste generated areas were Madhavaram and Tiruvottiyur with 33.77 MT and 49.69 MT respectively. It took 560 trips by workers to these zones to collect the waste and transport it to Kodungaiyur and Perungudi dumping grounds.
Additionally, at least 255.02 MT of debris was removed from 6 zones in the city. In Kodambakkam (Zone 10), 111.88 MT was collected and transported to landfill sites and processing plants, followed by 70.69 MT from Tondiarpet (Zone 4) and 41.32 MT from Anna Nagar (Zone 8).
As a precautionary measure ahead of Cyclone Fengal, parks within the Corporation were closed. After the rains subsided, intensive cleaning work was carried out in all 871 parks of the municipal corporation, fallen trees and tree debris were removed, and the parks were reopened for public use from Monday.
Meanwhile, water hyacinth and other vegetation from the Cooum River near Napier Bridge has been washed out to Marina Beach. “We’ve been removing the waste from the shores daily. We’re expecting at least 10 tonnes of wet waste on Wednesday,” said a senior official with Urbaser Sumeet, the private contractor for solid waste management in the city.