Next door to a three-storey office building of Zone – 11 of Chennai Corporation on the busy Arcot Road, is a small garage that has been set up on a piece of land with a compound wall. At this garage, garbage-carrying lorries of the civic body have their regular check-ups. Once attended to, the vehicles are parked in a row at the premises.
If you are wonder where the problem is, it lies in the fact this piece of land is designated as a Corporation-run playground for the residents of the neighbourhood. The playground, spread across 9,300 sq.ft., has a few fitness equipment, showing what it had been created for.
“With the garbage vehicles parked emitting a foul odour, we don’t want to take our children and grandchildren to this playground,” says S. Shanti, a resident of Valasaravakkam.
“A playground can have a park but not a garage with garbage lorries that too maintained by the Corporation. Civic officials should relocate the garage and the vehicles to ensure the playground serves its purpose for the residents,” said K. Sivakumar, a resident in Valasaravakkam.
Corporation officials cite lack of space to operate a garage for civic body vehicles as the reason for utilising the space inside the playground for the purpose.
“We have requested our senior officials at Ripon Buildings to allocate funds to set up a separate garage for vehicles of the civic body. However, there has been no response from them so far,” said a Corporation official.
If you are wonder where the problem is, it lies in the fact this piece of land is designated as a Corporation-run playground for the residents of the neighbourhood. The playground, spread across 9,300 sq.ft., has a few fitness equipment, showing what it had been created for.
“With the garbage vehicles parked emitting a foul odour, we don’t want to take our children and grandchildren to this playground,” says S. Shanti, a resident of Valasaravakkam.
“A playground can have a park but not a garage with garbage lorries that too maintained by the Corporation. Civic officials should relocate the garage and the vehicles to ensure the playground serves its purpose for the residents,” said K. Sivakumar, a resident in Valasaravakkam.
Corporation officials cite lack of space to operate a garage for civic body vehicles as the reason for utilising the space inside the playground for the purpose.
“We have requested our senior officials at Ripon Buildings to allocate funds to set up a separate garage for vehicles of the civic body. However, there has been no response from them so far,” said a Corporation official.