Chennai: Backwaters along OMR turn dump yard

CHENNAI: A stretch of backwaters, nearly 1km long, along the Buckingham canal on Rajiv Gandhi Expressway ( Old Mahabalipuram Road ) has been converted into a garbage dumping yard . On Thursday evening, a large quantity of the garbage was cleared from the spot by the authorities of the state public works department (PWD).

Residents in surrounding gated communities say the dumped waste is also burned by miscreants and that they are unable to keep their windows open.

Seshan Krishnakumar, whose gated community in Egattur has more than half a dozen blocks each with a minimum of 20 apartments, said that over the last few days the dumped garbage was being burned. “The stench is so bad that we cannot open the windows. There is relief only when the wind direction changes,” he said.

Trucks carrying garbage access the banks of the backwaters through a narrow street, he said adding that before the lockdown the drivers were careful and tried not to be spotted by residents. “Now, with very few people on the roads, they have a free run and dump garbage with impunity,” said Krishnakumar.

When contacted, a state PWD official said action was taken against five tankers for polluting the water body by releasing untreated sewage into it. A complaint was lodged with the jurisdictional police and the vehicles were impounded, he said.

Another official said it was difficult to monitor the bund or the banks of the water body as the department was struggling with staff shortage.

Krishnakumar said sewage from a nearby housing complex was also being let out into the backwaters through a pipeline laid for the purpose, he said.

In the absence of an underground drainage system along the stretch, the PWD official said, many people illegally connect sewage outlets to drains meant to carry rainwater.

Housing complexes have sewage treatment plants but the capacity is small and the rest is transported by tankers or in some cases let out into the backwaters illegally, he said.