Barren land in Mylapore goes green

Officials of Ward 124 fit a mini-vegetable garden and a composting unit into the parcel of land that was being misused as a garbage dumping site

In Ward No 124, a barren land that was being misued as a garbage dumping site has sprung to new life, thanks to a bit of out-of-the-box thinking by local Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) officials. This ward comes under Zone 9 (Mylapore) of GCC.

Two months ago, the GCC team from the ward cleared the barren government land of trash, and started a greening drive, planting a raft of vegetable-bearing plants, including green chillies, brinjals, spinach varieties and pumpkins. A few mango and banana saplings have also been thrown into the green mix.

Given the size of the land (which is located on a section of Kutchery Road that comes under Ward 124), they have managed the space really judiciously. It roughly measures 104 sq.ft, and what is interesting is that they have integrated it into the ward’s solid waste management strategy by setting up a composting unit there.

Barren land in Mylapore goes green

The garbage that had accumulated at the land was huge, and it took some doing to have it cleared, says a Corporation official who is attached to this ward.

He points out that before the saplings were planted, the land was filled with red soil and other soils brought from different parts of Tamil Nadu.

The bio-degradable waste that is collected from the houses in and around the area (which includes Mundakanni Amman Koil Street, Ranganathapuram 1-6 Streets, Salatal Puram and Sundara Thottam) is processed at the compositing unit and the compost goes to nourish the plants at the land.

Authorities at the temples nearby are also supportive of the initiative by offering wilted flowers to the composting unit.

Besides, bio-degradable waste collected from nearby parks and an Amma Unavagam is used for composting.

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