Despite regular cleaning by sanitation workers, residents dump garbage on the pathways in the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board tenements.
| Photo Credit: M. Vedhan
Deva, a resident of Pulianthope in Chennai, points to a pile of household waste leaking leachate near the staircase of the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB) apartment complex. When he confronts the residents adding to the garbage pile and asks them to stop, they ignore him.
Corridors and pathways within the premises of several tenements remain cluttered with garbage. While residents complain about the lack of dustbins, conservancy workers say the working conditions within the premises are difficult.
“Look! They are pouring waste water from the balconies,” exclaims Mangamma, a resident and food vendor at the Pulinathope complex under Ward 77 of Thiru.Vi.Ka. Nagar Zone. This is among the more than one lakh TNUHDB tenements in 15 zones. She said accumulation of waste on the ground floor and along corridors is a common sight, despite regular cleaning by sanitation workers, owing to the inadequate number of dustbins in every household and within the TNUHDB premises. “We are not used to having dustbins at home. So, waste is discarded in open spots,” she added.
V.K. Ravi, a DMK functionary and resident, said open dumping within the premises could be addressed only with public cooperation.
This concern was echoed by Vignesh Kumar, a resident of the TNUHDB complex in All India Radio Nagar, Ernavoor under Ward 3 of Tiruvottiyur Zone. “Over 20,000 people live here. Until April, there was a shortage of waste bins. Now, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has started placing more bins. Residents here are partly responsible, but there has been no awareness drives against open dumping by the GCC. Many are uneducated, so conducting specific campaigns will be helpful,” he said.
Complaints were also reported from the TNUHDB tenements in Kannagi Nagar of Semmanchery in Sholinganallur Zone.
Meanwhile, two sanitation workers, posted at Boat Club, recalled their earlier deployment at TNUHDB sites in Chitra Nagar, Saidapet, and near Arivalayam in Teynampet. “People there do not heed official requests. Waste water is often thrown from the upper floors. On one occasionin 2021, a glass bottle was hurled from the fourth floor, nearly hitting me,” one of them said.
The other worker said the situation was similar in the Tamil Nadu Housing Board complexes in Wards 110, 117, and 122. “We even asked the residents to just hand over unsegregated waste and that we would sort it ourselves. Still, they continued to dump waste round the clock. We often cleaned the premises three times every day,” he said.
The GCC will float tenders to clean the TNUHDB tenement premises in Zones I to X as the council had approved the proposal on May 29. At the council meeting, Commissioner J. Kumaragurubaran said the sanitation work was expected to begin from the second week of June.
Published – June 08, 2025 12:31 am IST