Residents urge the civic body to clear piled up garbage in the city

CHENNAI: Several areas have turned into dumping ground as the civic body failed to collect garbage for the last five days.

Though the civic body is involved in draining rainwater from inundated areas in the city, and hiring conservancy workers from other districts of Tamil Nadu.

The solid waste sanitary workers did not remove the excess waste and the dustbins are overflowing, which irks the residents.

"From Sunday, there was no door-to-door garbage collection by the sanitary workers. However, the situation is understandable due to heavy rain from Sunday and many areas were flooded. The civic body was focusing on pumping out rainwater in flood-affected areas in the city. But, after a couple of days, they could have made some arrangements to remove the garbage overflowing from the dustbins in the area. It has been more than five days and no conservancy workers cleared the waste, " said H Ganeshan, a resident of Otteri.

It has become a common issue in north Chennai. People are tired of waiting for the sanitary workers to collect garbage on the streets. The residents have gathered the waste accumulated on the road. They urge the local body to collect the garbage through vehicles, as they don't have dustbins placed on the streets.

Similarly, V Sathiabalan, a resident of Pattalam, rued that many areas are already inundated with rainwater and sewage overflow as the drains clogged.

After multiple complaints and protests, the civic body cleared the drains.

"In addition, the garbage has not been cleared for more than six days in the area. We are concerned that if there are mild showers in the city, the waste would again block the drainage system and cause overflowing of sewage. The city corporation should take immediate steps to remove the accumulated garbage in the area at the earliest, " added Sathiabalan.

Residents claim that though sanitary workers pass through the road or street, they fail to clear the waste. Though complaints were raised to the zonal authorities or corporation complaint cells, there has been no response for the last five days. "People are forced to stay in the unhygienic environment and there is a surge in mosquito breeding due to the recent monsoon spells. We are taxpayers and failed to get a basic hygiene issue addressed by the government, " said K Dhanasekar, a resident of Kodungaiyur.

When contacted, a senior corporation official said that the conservancy workers are involved in clearing garbages in the city. And they have already removed the majority of the waste dumped on the road and the bins that overflowed.