GCC intensifies cleaning drive at Chennai beaches

CHENNAI: With closed holidays following the Pongal festival, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has intensified cleaning drives in the city, especially beaches as people gathered in large numbers on January 16 and 17. The civic body authorities collected 202 metric tonnes of dry waste in the last nine days and processed them in two incinerators.

An additional 45 sanitary workers have been assigned to Marina beach with 103 garbage bins of different quantities, like 240 litres, 120 litres, and 50 litres. A compactor vehicle has been deployed in addition to the existing one in operation for the speedy removal of garbage.

The civic body authorities have also placed an additional 50 dust bins and 20 sanitation workers have been deployed on Besant Nagar beach. To ensure the shore is clean on Pallavakkam beach, as many as 15 conservancy workers, two battery-operated vehicles, one tractor and one mechanical sweeper, an official stated.

Though crowd gathering was less at Neelankarai and Akkarai beaches compared to other beaches in the city, six additional workers have been assigned on a rotational basis.

In addition, to celebrate smoke-less Bhogi this year, the Corporation initiated a system where people were requested to dispose of waste materials including rubber tubes, tyres, clothes, for the sanitary workers instead of burning them.

According to GCC data, at least 202 metric tons (MT) of dry waste were collected in all 15 zones from January 8 – 16. Of which, residents in the Adyar zone deposited the highest amounts of used materials, at 26 MT. Followed by Tiruvottriyur zone (zone 1) with 23 MT, and Kodambakkam zone 20 MT.

The collected waste was sent to Manali and Kodugaiyur incinerators. A total number of 518 MT of dry waste, including regular door-to-door collection waste generated in the city in the last nine days, has been processed at incinerators. As much as 446 MT of waste is collected and processed at Kodugaiyur incinerator, and more than 71 MT at Manali incinerator.

Meanwhile, a recent study by GCC ranked Besant Nagar beach as the city's cleanest beach, followed by Thiruvanmiyur and Marina. As per the data released by the civic body authorities, Besant Nagar tops the table with 98.6 points, Thiruvanmiyur follows with 95, and Neelankarai beach at the bottom with only 62.12 points.

Though the data shows that there has been no manpower at Neelankarai and Akkarai beaches, the Corporation has planned to intensify the cleaning drive on those two beaches, and this special drive has deployed workers here.