Manavalan Ngr Residents detain 5 garbage trucks for dumping of waste

TIRUVALLUR: Tension prevailed at Manavalan Nagar in Tiruvallur on Friday when residents of the area staged a four-hour long protest refusing to let garbage trucks into the colony where several tonnes of garbage was unloaded on a daily basis causing unhygienic living conditions for the people.

All the garbage that gets collected from Vengathur in Kadambathur village were collected by trucks and dumped into the Cooum River for several years until the High Court intervened and directed them not to do so. Following this, the trucks made it a habit of unloading the garbage at Kannima Nagar in Vengathur where schools, anganwadis and residential areas were located.

The residents claim that more than five tonnes of garbage gets unloaded in their area everyday causing an unbearable stench and disease outbreaks among the people living there. The infuriated mob that saw the trucks coming to dump garbage near the homes on Friday surrounded the five trucks and staged a protest demanding them to stop turning their colony into a dump yard.

On information, local politicians, including the panchayat council president and councillors tried to hold talks with the protestors. However, the protestors refused to back down and brought several bottles of muddy water and pointed out that incessant dumping of garbage have rendered their drinking water unhygienic. On hearing their demands, the officials promised to find an alternate place to dump the garbage after which the protestors dispersed.