Who let the trash out?
- Shruti Sundar Ray
- Oct 3, 2019
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 17, 2020
In Washermanpet’s Model Lane, a blame game of sorts plays out as residents and local authorities refuse to address a mounting garbage problem
“Yes, people do throw sambar at the corporation workers when they come to clean the garbage,” admits thirteen-year-old Catherine. This unlikely weapon reflects the extent of the frustration of dwellers of Washermanpet's Model Lane with regards to the acute drainage and water crisis in the area.
Constructed by the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board to provide a permanent housing solution to erstwhile slum-dwellers, the homogenous, pastel-coloured, four-storeyed buildings, are lined with blue water drums on every verandah. A few standalone black water tanks stand sentry at the junctions. Each day, the residents flock to the Metro Water tanker as it inches into the narrow lanes, to fill their drums that are connected to an intricate network of green pipes with motors leading to individual windows on the top floors.
However, not all houses in the locality are board-constructed. Open spaces gave way to illegal constructions and narrow inner lanes that have become garbage dumping sites. Audrey Herft, a 67-year-old homemaker and resident since 1982, laments that calling the Chennai Corporation helpline has become a daily chore for her. She explains, “The garbage cleaners come every day and take waste only from the main road but no one enters the inner lanes.”
Where this garbage originates from is an unresolved mystery in the community. Ground floor dwellers believe that the people living on the upper floors dump their trash on to the inner lanes, in the dead of the night. These lanes open on to the entrance of the houses on the ground floor leaving the residents with an unsightly welcome whenever they open their doors.
This is not a problem of visual discomfort alone. The excess garbage clogs the drains, which then overflows on to the roads and even into the mouths of water tanks, resulting in a mixing of dirty drainage water and clean consumption water. The piles of rotting garbage and stagnant water lend an all-pervading foul stench to the air, causing the spread of water-borne diseases and providing a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
An AIADMK party worker from the area, who did not wish to be named, claims that the MLA representative of the constituency visits Model Lane fortnightly to ensure the well-being of residents and places the blame of the garbage issue squarely on the corporation officials, especially the Assistant Health Officer (AHO).
On his part, Muthu, the AHO, aims an arrow of accusation back at the residents, saying, “The locals disrupt the corporation workers by throwing trash at them, including stale sambar, making them hesitant to even enter the locality now.” Moreover, he sees no viable long-term solution to the problem because the people are unwilling to change their habits. In contrast, Lakshmi, a local entrepreneur maintains, “If the ministers and corporation were doing their jobs, the conditions here would have improved long ago.”
The community and the government continue to disavow their responsibility while the next generation of residents falls prey to the same challenges.
(Co-authored by Ayshwarya Sinha and Subiksha Ramakrishnan)
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