Devotees leave tonnes of food leftovers and plastic waste behind

Madurai Corporation struggles to clean festival waste as public ignores dumper bins, causing delays and environmental damage.

Though Madurai Corporation had placed dumper bins for the benefit of devotees to drop leftovers of food served in paper plates issued by donors under the banner of ‘annadhanam,’ the public just left the waste on the roadside instead of using the bins.

It was a Herculean task for us to clear all the waste after the devotees left, said Muthuraja, a conservancy worker at Tallakulam as the people had littered the roadsides everywhere. All types of plastic and paper plates, water bottles and leftover food was strewn everywhere. “If the people had dropped them in the bins, it would have been easier to clear them swiftly. The wasted food had to be removed from the roadsides and walkways which took a lot of time,” he told The Hindu on Monday.

Corporation Commissioner Chitra Vijayan and her team from the City Health Department had deployed over 300 conservancy workers in zones 1, 2 and 4 where Lord Kallazhagar moved from Prasanna Venkatachalapathi Temple in Tallakulam towards Vaigai river on Monday.

Unconcerned about the damage done to the eco-system, many people had left eatables such as ‘sweet pongal’ and ‘sundal’ on the roadsides on Sunday. The stench was so unbearable in the early hours of Monday that the workers had a tough time cleaning them on a war footing near Eco Park, adjacent to the Tallakulam Perumal temple and other spots, an Inspector from the Health Department said.

The officials said that the sponsors of ‘annadhanam’ should sensitise the public to drop the leftover food in the bins. This, not adhered to, leads to multiple issues and caused undue delay in keeping the space clean.

With the regular garbage lifted from the city’s 100 wards revolving around a little over 900 tonnes, the workers felt that during such festival time, a little cooperation from the people would go a long way in keeping the environment in a better way.

A donor, Kamalakannan from North Masi Street, who was distributing ‘sweet pongal’ near Bharati Ula Road near Lotus Tank in K. Pudur, said that they installed dumper bins as instructed by the civic authorities. A majority of the people dropped the leaves/plates on the bins and only a few had dropped it on the roadside.