In spite of newspapers daily publishing reports and photographs of garbage stagnation due to the poor show by private firms, the city corporation is still trying to find the right solution to the garbage problem seven years down the line.
Be it Neel Metal Fanalca that removed waste from Chennai during the DMK regime or Ramky Enviro Ltd which is now collecting waste, private firms have largely proved to be failures.
The corporation had earlier issued showcause notices to NMF and will now serve similar notices on Ramky and no one exactly knows when the mounds of garbage in Chennai will be reduced and recycled.
It started in 1999 with DMK leader M.K. Stalin, during his stint as city mayor, hired Singapore-based Onyx for clearing garbage in Chennai. Though Onyx initially suffered, it later gained public confidence, unlike NMF and Ramky.
In the meantime, the Pallikarnai marsh has lost over 150 hectares of wetland to untreated garbage that is just dumped here. A similar situation prevails in Kodungaiyur, which was once an open field for grazing livestock.
Chennai generates solid waste of about 4,200 metric tonnes per day but only 200 metric tonnes are treated and naturally reduced to compost.
The situation is worse in Manali, Madhavaram, Ambattur and Sholinganallur where untreated waste is dumped on the city outskirts. All 15 zones of the city are stinking and the corporation has outsourced waste collection in just three zones.
With vacancies in the Chennai corporation going unfilled and the Hyderabad-based Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd struggling with the garbage generated in three zones, it is time for the corporation to get proactive.
The top brass at Ripon Buildings recently visited cities in China and Singapore and Hong Kong to see first-hand how the problem is solved. If the corporation acts fast, residents can still hope for a clean and green Chennai.
One should also take into account chief minister Jayalalithaa’s aerial visit of the Perungudi dumping yard and the subsequent grant of `50 crore to improve waste management in Chennai.