Garbage piling up in private plots

KOCHI: Dumping of waste in private properties has become common in the city and the Corporation is finding it difficult to find a solution to the issue.According to Mumtaz teacher, councillor, Thazhuppu, there are atleast three places in her division where garbage is piled up. These are private properties and African snail rats are flourishing in the area, she said.A private property near the Old NH 47 is worse off as the property has not been cleaned for a long time. Another private property  near Choice trading company is also overflowing with garbage.She said that it is high time the Corporation took some action to clean the area at the earliest. The Corporation should take steps to identify private properties which have been left unclean. The owners should be issued notice and a fine imposed. This is causing difficulties for the people living in the vicinity.Antony Kureethara, councillor, Fort Kochi, has expressed concern that the tourism zone is not getting enough attention as far as garbage clearance is concerned.He said that complaints about lorries not doing regular rounds have fallen on deaf ears. He said the waste dumped from homes are collected only by the lorries arranged by the Corporation. Efforts have not been made to remove the garbage thrown in open spaces by the residents. He said the health inspectors are not doing enough field work to trace those littering the area. He said people from other areas were thronging Fort Kochi for dumping waste. The only solution to the problem is to intensify surveillance and trace the culprits.Contradicting this, the local health inspector, in-charge of the vehicles, said that a covered tipper and a rented lorry were sent to the division on a daily basis.Health Officer Dr Manjusha Varghese said that one lorry has been allotted to each circle that comprises three-and-a-half divisions.Additional lorries are sanctioned on the basis of requests made by the health inspectors of the respective zones every morning.During the last few days removal of grass, weeds and mud from the West Kochi area has become a problem due to intake difficulty at the Brahmapuram waste treatment plant, said A H Niyas, councillor, Chakkamadam.