Random alerts about waste piles have been routine for Chengannur municipal authorities. On Friday, the callers broke the routine - they were peeved about condoms strewn all over the road. The officials had a harrowing time not just cleaning up the mess, but dissing wild theories about the origin of the condoms.

The condoms were found on the MC Road at Vandimala, near Vellavoor Junction. The municipal health committee said that the condoms may have fallen off a vehicle transporting sanitary waste.

One of the passengers had spotted the unusual number of condoms scattered along the roadside on Thursday night. Soon, residents informed authorities, intrigued by the incident. Ward councillor Varun said they may have fallen off a vehicle transporting materials for packaging or could have been waste discarded from scanning centres. "Further investigation is required to ascertain exactly how they ended up there. However, they are most likely waste material collected from labs," he said.

Health officials who visited the site said that it could be condoms left over from labs. "Probes used for transvaginal ultrasounds are covered using condoms. It is likely that these were condoms discarded after such use," Municipal Public Health Inspector Manoj Chakravani told Onmanorama.

After being disposed of as sanitary waste, such condoms are collected by authorised agencies from multiple scanning centres and transported for treatment. "It is likely that during one such trip, the waste material fell off the moving vehicle onto the road," he added.

Following the incident, the municipality's sanitation workers began cleaning the area early on Friday morning. "We started receiving calls about the condoms on Thursday itself. However, the cleaning staff had already left for the day, so we scheduled the clean-up for the next morning," he said.

The collected waste will be handed over to agencies authorised to collect and treat biomedical waste.

While the issue was resolved and arrangements for disposal were done, the police have got involved. The cops are investigating if condoms were dumped from a vehicle. After receiving the information from the municipality, officers began examining CCTV footage to determine how the material ended up on the roadside. "We have not registered a case in connection with the incident. However, we are scanning CCTV footage to determine what exactly happened," an officer at the Chengannur Police Station said.