Jet Airways Contract Staff Caught On Camera, Trying To Dump Garbage In A Chennai Lake

Private airline Jet Airways has issued a statement expressing regret on 24 July after its staff was caught dumping waste into Pallavaram Lake of Chennai on camera by a resident, Dharman Manoharan, as per Times of India reports. However, the airlines have washed its hands off the entire incident, without wanting to bear any responsibility.

Dharmar Manoharan caught the Jet Airways employees red-handed. He was riding on the Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam radial road, around 2.30 pm on 22 July, when he noticed a van with the Jet Airways logo parked by the lake. He spotted men taking plastic, wooden planks, oil and bags of other trash from the vehicle and nonchalantly dump all of it in the lake.

“How can you dump trash here? You belong to such a big company, and you are doing this at a public place in broad daylight. How can you throw garbage into a water body? You thought nobody would ask?” Manoharan asked.

The staff, however, avoided even looking at the camera; some of them can be seen reloading the garbage bags into the vehicle again.

Manoharan recorded what he saw and posted it on Facebook. The clip shot showed a Pallavaram municipality-owned tractor — used to transport garbage — was parked to provide cover to the men dumping the waste in the lake.

On being enquired by Times of India, Selvaraj, the municipality’s sanitary officer said, “The driver must have parked the vehicle to relieve himself.” However, he assured that he would file a complaint post an internal enquiry.

The clip shot by Manoharan has enraged several local activists who have been working against the systematic attempt by the municipality and private firms to ruin the Pallavaram Lake – some of them want to file a police complaint.

Jet Airways issued a statement late on 24 July. “As a socially responsible and responsive organisation, Jet Airways is committed toward providing and maintaining a clean and safe environment,” it said.

In the statement issues, the airlines claimed that they use “specifically-defined processes” for waste disposal, which include working with airport-designated contractors. “In this case, regretfully, owing to the refusal of the designated contractor to dispose of the waste, the airline assigned an alternate contractor for the task, whose staff disregarded the process,” the statement said.

The airlines, while thanking the responsible citizen for bringing this to notice, stated that the contractual staff had been suspended and an inquiry has been started. It also said that the site would be cleared by the airlines. The airline staff arrived at the place on 24 July, 4:15 pm. However, they did not clear the garbage claiming that the filth on the lake shore was done by others and not them.

The Logical Indian community appreciates the fact that Jet Airways has accepted the mistake on its part and has taken required steps in this direction. We hope that the airline ensures that similar incidents do not recur. At the same time, we also appreciate Dharmar Manoharan for the initiative he took that brought to light the entire incident.