MADURAI: Garbage dumping has become rampant and needs to be checked in areas located along the channels leading to the Vaigai river in the city as both public and sanitary workers dump garbage into it near the bridges across them.
Coordinator of Neernilaigal Pathukappu Kuzhu, R Abubakkar said that the plight of the 10 channels from Sellur kanmoi in Meenambalpuram all the way to GRH in Alwarpuram are heavily polluted with sewage and it is made worse by garbage being dumped into them, something that the civic body has never been able to address.
Dumper bins are placed on the sides of the channels near the bridges and when they fill up, which is very frequent, the garbage overflows into the channels. K Thiru of Sellur said that even sanitary workers burn the garbage near the bridges when their vehicles are overloaded.
Bakker added that there are not enough sanitary workers. “The sanitary workers cannot deal with the huge tonnes of garbage being generated in some of the streets near the Vaigai river. They just dump the excess waste into the channels and burn them. This is a common sight on the Meenambalpuram - Poonthamalli bridge.”
“The bridge in Jeeva street has tonnes of garbage dumped on it and it looks as though it never cleaned,” said S Saraswthy of Meenambalpuram, who says that these dumps have given their area the nickname ‘dirty area’.
“Adding to the woes, heavy vehicles bring building debris and dump it near the Kamarajar second street. If heavy vehicle movement is prevented on this road the debris cannot be dumped,” he said.
Residents said that there is often dispute on who should clean the bridge between wards 40 and 41 in the Madurai Corporation and sometimes it is left as it is for many days of the week.
