78 dumpsites to be cleared soon

After the inordinate delay, the Greater Chennai Corporation will start clearing uprooted trees dumped in various parts of the city.

Owing to poor response from traders in previous e-auctions to dispose of green waste, the civic body has been unable to clear the waste from 78 dumpsites till now.

“The order for clearing the dumpsites has been issued on Tuesday following the auction valued at Rs 50 lakh,” a senior official said.

After fire accidents in dumpsites were reported in areas such as Egmore, the civic body initiated various measures to prevent such accidents, stationing fire tenders at the sites and posting security personnel to report the fire on time.

As the frequency of fire accidents increased, residents in many neighbourhoods have been requesting the civic body to remove the uprooted trees. Many OSR lands and playgrounds have been used for the purpose in areas such as Anna Nagar, Kilpauk, Kodambakkam, T.Nagar, Adyar, Teynampet and Kotturpuram.

“A large number of trees were uprooted in Anna Nagar. We did not have land to dump the waste. So we used OSR lands. A total of 2,366 loads of wood will be removed from one OSR land at Anna Nagar,” said an official.

Children in many localities were denied access to playgrounds and OSR lands as they became dumping yards. After the fire incidents, the officials even monitored children roaming in the localities. “The fire service personnel will continue to monitor the 78 dumpsites to prevent fire accidents,” said an official.

Even as more than one lakh trees were affected in Cyclone Vardah, the Corporation removed just 17,000 trees along roads and cleared branches from 50,000 trees initially.

The Corporation and the police refused to remove trees uprooted in private lands of zones such as Teynampet. Remaining trees uprooted in private lands were cleared by labourers from various parts of the State, by collecting wages ranging from Rs.2,000 to Rs.50,000 from residents. However, officials in zones such as Adyar reportedly used advanced equipment to remove trees with assistance from private companies. The modern equipment were used to help residents of many neighbourhoods of Adyar zone.

According to a GIS study done by Nizhal, 16.3 percent of the trees in ward 176 were damaged. “Among the uprooted trees, 22 percent were indigenous species,” said Shobha Menon of Nizhal. The study should be done for the entire city, she said.

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