CHENNAI: The stench of sewage-infested water seeping out of the sewage treatment plant just adjacent to where outstation buses enter the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT), opposite the Koyambedu market, has many a passerby dodging the pavement, and opting for the road instead. A few steps inside the entrance, and it is evident that the garbage — a mix of muck, abandoned footwear, rain water and breeding insect larvae, seem to follow you all the way up to the men’s toilet, approximately 100 metres inside the complex. N Thirunavukarasu, a grape vendor who makes his rounds here, complains, “There is no maintenance here at all, in fact this stretch of garbage and sewage has been like this for the past two years.” He adds, “My friend who comes with me falls sick every second day, but I make it a point to wash myself properly with dettol after work.”Contrary to this statement, officials at the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) are quite eager to ensure that the public do not mistake this foul smelling stretch within the CMBT premises for sewage. N Gunsekaran, Deputy Area Engineer, CMWSSB, attributes the muck to the bus drivers, “When the buses are washed in this area, all the grease and dirt mixes with the water and makes it appear like sewage.” While most passengers waiting to get their bus seem rather used to the smell, a few are spotted holding a hankerchief to their noses to avoid it. Chandramohan, a businessman who takes the bus from here everyday to reach his workplace outside the city, doesn’t seem to mind. He says, “It’s nothing if you get used to it,” and then adds, “Now that you mention it, for the past two days, it’s become a little worse.”The people most affected by this lack of hygiene are the street vendors who spend their entire day hawking their food and fruits to customers from the pavement, clearly infested with sewage. Malathi, a lime juice vendor, is eager to share that the problem was a lot worse six months ago. She says, “It used to be so bad that there would be solid human faeces flowing out on to the pavement.” Her daughter recalls: “Just a week ago, a man who was walking toward to the entrance didn’t see the water, slipped in it and injured his head.”They reveal that things are much better now when the authorities use a machine to pump the water back into the sewage ground.Even the auto drivers outside the entrance claim that the maintenance in the area is very poor and no one, including the authorities themselves, are interested in rectifying it. S Shakthi, who waits for customers outside the CMBT premises, says, “I’ve seen so many government officials come here, they look, they talk and then they go.” A cigarette vendor next to him contributes, “You know in this entire road, from the Koyambedu market up to Virugambakkam, Kaliamman Koil Street, there are no drains when the rains come,” indicating that their plight worsens with the monsoons.With stagnant garbage, breeding larvae and commuters by the hundreds, there is little doubt that the CMBT entrance is a health hazard for the city’s outstation commuters and bystanders alike. However, in response to the leaking sewage adjacent to the premises, Gunasekaran promises, “We will definitely get the hole in the wall rectified by tonight. When you get up tomorrow, it will be clean.” Hopefully, the Metrowater will show similar urgency to plug every hole within the department.
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