Citizen Connect: Once-idyllic DP Nagar neighbourhood now reeks of garbage stench

But the beauty of the area is ruined by the piles of trash at street corners, complain residents, who say they have grown tired of complaining to the authorities about the lack of garbage bins in the area.

The locality has two streets and a cross street but not a single bin for the more than 50 households here.

“We moved to this locality 20 years ago because it was so clean and safe. My children grew up riding bicycles on these very roads. But now, I can’t even step out of my home for a walk. The whole area stinks of garbage,” said Malini A, a homemaker.

A children’s park is located on DP Nagar 2nd Street, outside which a garbage bin had been placed. In the beginning of the year, however, it was removed for reasons unknown. “As there are mostly independent houses in the vicinity, the trash wouldn’t pile up or spill over. It would be emptied every other day, and the area wouldn’t stink,” said Sathyavathi, a domestic worker. Till now, she used to pick up the waste from the two houses she works at and throw it in the bin on her way home. “But now I have to walk quite a distance to the main road, where only one bin is placed. This is overflowing most of the time because a restaurant dumps all its waste there,” she added.

The park doesn’t attract as many children anymore, because of which it has become a haven for miscreants. Ezhumalai, who has an ironing stall opposite the park, said, “My family and I live in the outhouse of one of the buildings on DP Nagar Cross Street. In the evenings, they would go play in the park. But because everyone dumps garbage right outside it, the stench has become unbearable. These days, after sunset, I have found many drunk youngsters sleeping on the park benches,” he complained.

Other streets in Kotturpuram such as Ranjith Road and Surya Nagar have completely removed garbage bins and introduced a daily door-to-door collection system. However, even regular collection is not being done from the houses in DP Nagar, residents complained. When contacted for a response regarding the complaint, the Zonal Officer was not available to comment.