Trichy: Two years after Trichy Corporation identified vacant land in all four zones to facilitate dumping of construction waste for the public, heaps of debris have returned to roadsides, banks of water bodies and vacant plots.Slackness in penalising the offenders has been primarily blamed for this growing defiance from a section of people to dump construction debris and other waste at public spots.Trichy corporation had identified less than an acre of its vacant land in all four zones, namely Srirangam, K Abishekapuram, Ariyamangalam, and Ponmalai to enable the locals to dump construction debris. The move came after the workers involved in construction activities were found dumping soil, concrete and broken bricks along the banks of water bodies. On its part, the civic body reused the debris to an extent such as for levelling the surface.While the designated places for dumping construction debris was solving the purpose initially, mounds of construction debris can now be found on roadsides and banks of water bodies, particularly the Uyyakondan canal.“Mini-trucks with waste including broken tiles enter the banks of Uyyakondan canal via Chettipalam bridge late in the evening. They make use of the canal banks to empty the construction debris and return,” K Saravanan, a resident of Officers Colony, said.Even as the civic body is entitled to collect up to Rs 2,000 as penalty for dumping construction debris at public spots and vacant lands as per solid waste management rules 2016, the enforcement is missing despite two mobile squads supervising the city every day.“There were warning boards close to the Uyyakondan canal asking local people not to dump waste on the banks.We will coordinate with PWD officials in preventing the debris being dumped near the water body,” a sanitary official with the civic body said.Corporation commissioner N Ravichandran assured that the public would be informed about the presence of four designated centres to abandon the construction debris properly.Trichy corporation, despite collecting an average Rs 8,000 as penalty a day for violations in SWM rules, is yet to take stern action to prevent construction waste making a comeback on city roads.

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