Chitlapakkam lake groans under weight of dumped garbage

Despite repeated representation to the local Panchayat, residents say that garbage from the locality is dumped on the bund of the lake, causing health concerns and destruction to the waterbody. “The population of Chitlapakkam, as per the 2011 Census is around 40,000. Each person generates 500 g of solid waste per day. When you do the math, close to 15-20 tonnes of garbage is being generated, most of which is dumped on the lake. 

There is a Public Health Centre right opposite the bund of the lake, which has turned into an unofficial dump yard. There is also a high school at this location. The garbage not only pollutes the lake but also causes health problems to residents of the locality. There were plans to move the garbage to the Venkatamangalam yard for scientific garbage disposal but our locality has been left out of this,” said P Viswanathan, Convenor, Chitlapakkam Residents Association Coordination Committee. 

Sunil Jayaram, a resident of Chitlapakkam, said that earlier there was a discussion to move the garbage from the lake bund to Keerapakkam. “However, that has not been done yet. The authorities have started burning the garbage, which pollutes the area more. In addition to this, we are seeing lorry loads of trash being dumped not just on the bund but also into the water. There is no solid waste management system in the place and the makeshift segregation unit is ineffective,” said the member of the Chitlapakkam Rising group. 

An official from the Town Panchayat confirmed that there was a decision taken to move the garbage to the Keerapakkam unit. “The local residents are creating a problem and we are trying to sort it out. Once this is done, the garbage will be taken to Keerapakkam and segregated and recycled. Last week, we met the resident welfare associations to create awareness on the need for segregation. We are planning to continue this to ensure residents start segregating their waste, which will help the local administration,” explained the source.