CHIANG MAI: Residents are up in arms over garbage collectors who dump rubbish in earth pits just 500 metres behind San Pa Tong Hospital.
The locals claim the culprits have been dumping garbage for more than a decade, heavily polluting the area, creating an eyesore and causing hospital patients to suffer from the foul odours.
Residents of Nong Sariam village in tambon Yuwa of San Pa Tong district said firms contracted to collect garbage dumped it in abandoned pits, left after the soil had been dug up and sold. The rubbish was dumped surreptitiously at night.
The rotting rubbish gave off a stench that permeated the hospital and nearby communities, especially during the rainy season.
Hospital staff yesterday morning examined the site after receiving complaints from residents.
They said there were three pits about 500 metres behind the hospital. The first pit was near Ban Nong Sariam, the second at Ban Sala and the third near Wat Sri Pan Ngern, all in tambon Yuwa.
Wirat Klinprathum, director of San Pa Thong Hospital, said management had sent a letter of complaint to Tambon Yuwa Municipality. The municipality said it had tried to solve the problem by putting up signs prohibiting garbage dumping and blocked the access road to the pits with concrete blocks. But garbage collectors removed the signs and the blocks and continued to dump their waste.
San Pa Tong police once arrested the operator of a garbage truck and fined him 1,500 baht. This temporarily halted the dumping.