Garbage fires: a feature of the morning commute

At Ponmar
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

At Sithalapakkam
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Neighbourhoods tucked into the inner creases what lies just outside south Chennai, many of them sandwiched between what can loosely be described as OMR and Tambaram landmasses are visibly plagued by an ailment: poor solid waste management.

On the daily commute to work, Bernice Jacinth finds fresh evidence of an indifferent and even cavalier attitude to waste management, particularly in Sithalapakkam, Ponmar, Thalambur, Ottiyambakkam and Madurapakkan. She is distressed by the sight of carelessly discarded plastics, single-use plastics; and even more by the sight of such garbage being set to fire. She keeps of record of these anomalies with a GPS camera. She recently made a complaint on Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board’s online grievance redressal system, and the response has left her outraged and hugely disappointed.

“The complaint (number 162505450) has been closed without any comments/ resolution. The burning in Ponmar and Sithalapakkam continues,” says Bernice, who has shared a screenshot of the complaint, whose current status reads “closed”.

There is a preponderance of plastics in the garbage pile-ups, largely singe-use plastics, in the roadside garbage pileups that are set to fire. And that, according to Bernice, raises another question. Is the ban on single-use plastics being enforced strictly in these outlying parts of the Chennai Metropolitan Area, she wants to know.