Vendors have turned Malé’s surf point Raalhugandu into a waste dump after the biannual street market.
The two-week long market ended on June 13, but vendors left plastic, wood, cardboard boxes and pipes at Malé’s water front. The market organizer Maldives National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI) has not picked up the trash two days after the market ended.
Some 500 stalls were set up for the market.
The dumping of trash at the surf point sparked outrage on Twitter.
Night market = trash and leave. Beautiful sight at raalhugandu. Piles of garbage yay Maldives yay sunny side yay tourism.
— Isra (@IsraSaudulla) June 14, 2015
War zone or tornado aftermath? Night market aftereffects! pic.twitter.com/KmMa86iMxa — Gahaa (@AhmedSaeedGahaa) June 15, 2015
The MNCCI’s Vice President Ismail Asif told Raajje TV that the clean-up effort had been slowed by difficulties in transporting and offloading the garbage onto barges that would carry the trash to the dump on Thilafushi island.
The Malé City Council is cleaning up the mess now. Councilor Shamau Shareef appealed to the public to join him in the clean up with “brooms, gloves and garbage bags.”
As the sun set, only migrant workers staff were seen cleaning the area. Much of the garbage has been cleared on the outermost Bodu Thakurufaanu Magu, but adjoining Ameenee Magu is yet to be cleaned.
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