Panchayat office turns garbage transit station in Nedukundram

The Nedukundram village panchayat consists of six wards with a population of over 12,000 people. It was primarily an agrarian village till about 20 years ago. But for the past few years, several schools and colleges have come up in the area, besides turning into a residential hub for city folk who like the suburbs. Due to the rapid development of the area, officials are considering to upgrade Nedukundram village as Town panchayat shortly.

But this rapid pace in development has only caused trouble. The door-to-door garbage collection vehicles are not visiting the households regularly, according to the residents. Because of this, most of the areas are filled with garbage, rued the residents here.

According to Latha, a resident, when she visited the panchayat office to complain about the problem, she found that the stench was unbearable. “We could enter the premises only after covering our nose. It was filled with garbage and we could not stand there beyond a few minutes because of the stench,” she said.

The residents said that they had requested panchayat secretary to address the issue several times, but in vain. “At least the panchayat office should be an example for cleanliness so that the staff will maintain their respective areas neatly,” said a resident.

When contacted, Katankulathur BDO N Malathi, said, “We don’t have space for dumping the garbage and so we are keeping it inside the panchayat premises itself. Once a week, we take it to the Kolathur dumping yard. Now, because of the rain, we couldn’t clear the garbage. However, it will be cleared soon.”