Chennai residents raise concerns over vacant lands being used to dump garbage

Concerns about open lands in Chennai being used as dumping grounds and the need for action to prevent mosquito breeding.

Concerns about maintaining open lands in the city remain relevant as many residents have complained that these spaces are being used as dumping grounds, with some even for burning garbage.

A resident in Nolambur said that after employees of the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) pruned the trees in the area, the garden waste generated was dumped in a privately owned plot of land nearby. A resident of Madhavaram Milk Colony alleged that people in the area were burning of garbage on a vacant plot of land in the area, and this needed to be addressed.

According to a 29-year-old resident in Sholinganallur, sewage from a household is let out on to a plot of land in Hanuman Colony. Since the land is not maintained by its owners, many also dump garbage while passing by the area, and there is also debris found within the space, the resident said.

The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) recently mentioned that it intended to address the issue of open dumping on vacant lands. This is to prevent these areas from becoming breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

As per the civic body’s data on its portal, there are 1,351 Open Space Reservation (OSR) lands within its limits, with the most being in Sholinganallur (224), under various zones in the South Region.