Waste collection to begin before April 17
Friday, 31 March 2017 10:06
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The Times of India 31.03.2017 Waste collection to begin before April 17
JAIPUR: The door-to-door garbage collection will start in 34 wards before April 17 in the city.
The awarded firm has submitted an action plan at Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC). As per the plan, the firm will start collection scheme in all three divisions.
The (JMC) had recently invited tenders for the door-to-door garbage
collection after dividing the city into three divisions. In the first
division, the agency has included Hawa Mahal (West), Amber and Vidhyadhar Nagar areas; the second division has Hawa Mahal (East), Moti Doongri and Sanganer areas. Similarly, the third division covers Civil Lines and Mansarovar.
"The firm has proposed to start collection scheme in seven wards of Civil Lines, seven wards of Mansarovar , 10 wards of Sanganear and 10 wards of Vidhyadhar Nagar zone. The company employees will work between 7 am to 12 pm initially," said a JMC official.
It is decided that (JMC) will not impose charges of door-to-door garbage collection on residents for first three months.
Taking experience from past, the corporation has decided to levy
charges only after providing the facility. JMC has proposed to earn Rs
100 crore per year from garbage collection scheme. For this, JMC is also
conducting a survey of properties on which these charges will be
imposed.
According to a JMC official, "As per present data, there are 6.80 lakh
properties which come under the bracket. The data has been updated and
JMC would impose garbage charges on nearly eight lakh properties."
For door-to-door collection in municipal corporation, it is proposed
that the awarded organization will levy Rs 20 for a plot size less or up
to 50 square metre, Rs 80 will be charged for a plot size more than 50
square metre and up to 300 square metre. Owners who have plot size more
than 300 square will have to shell out Rs 150.
For commercial shops, restaurants, sweet shops, charges will be Rs
2,509. Similarly, Rs 750 and Rs 500 will be levied on guest houses and
hostels respectively.
TB cases surge by 9%; BMC attributes it to better detection
Friday, 24 March 2017 12:05
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The Hindu 24.03.2017 TB cases surge by 9%; BMC attributes it to better detection
Multi drug-resistant cases rose from 3,608 to 4,374 in 2016
The city recorded a 21% rise in multi drug-resistant cases (MDR) of
tuberculosis (TB) in 2016 and a nearly 9% rise in the overall TB cases
in the city. While the statistics, released by the Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation (BMC) show the increasing threat of the disease,
it also highlights the improved case detection mechanism and
notification. As per the data, 38,667 TB cases were recorded in 2015,
which increased to 42,115 in 2016. The MDR cases rose from 3,608 to
4,374 in 2016, out of which 555 were extremely drug-resistant or XDR TB
patients. Of the overall TB cases recorded in 2016, 8.6% were pediatric. Dr.
Padmaja Keskar, BMC’s executive health officer, said, “The attitude of
people is changing. Instead of hiding the disease, a large number of
people now prefer to get treated, which is a good sign.” The officer
added that at least 75% doctors from the private sector have started
notifying the disease regularly. “The better diagnostic facilities have
also improved the case detection,” she added. Drug-resistant TB Doctors,
however, say that increase in drug-resistant TB cases is something to
worry about. This threat has been highlighted in a paper published in
Lancet Respiratory Medicine Commission today (Friday), authored by
Hinduja Hospital’s chest physician Dr. Zarir Udwadia and consultant
microbiologist Dr. Camilla Rodrigues, among other renowned doctors from
across the world. The paper states, “Although tuberculosis control
has been effective in some regions of the world, these gains are
threatened by the increasing burden of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and
extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis.” It
adds, “XDR tuberculosis has evolved in several tuberculosis-endemic
countries to drug-incurable or programmatically incurable tuberculosis
[totally drug-resistant]. This poses several challenges similar to those
encountered in the pre-chemotherapy era, including the inability to
cure tuberculosis, high mortality, and the need for alternative methods
to prevent disease transmission.” The paper says that this phenomenon
mirrors the increase in antimicrobial resistance across the world and
the emergence of other MDR pathogens, like malaria, HIV, and
Gram-negative bacteria. “MDR and XDR tuberculosis are associated with
high morbidity and substantial mortality, are a threat to health-care
workers, prohibitively expensive to treat, and are therefore a serious
public health problem.” Primary drug-resistant According
to pulmonologist Dr. Vikas Oswal, who practices in Govandi, an
extremely high risk area for TB in the city, the primary drug-resistant
TB infection (wherein people directly get infected with the
drug-resistant strain of the bacteria) is a bigger threat looming on us. “In
today’s date, at least 15% drug resistant cases are primary infections.
With limited number of medicines, we need to tackle this with better
efficiency,” Dr. Oswal said, adding that the scenario in the public
health system has changed a lot, for good, over the last few years. He
said, “There are more GeneXpert machines, better cartridges to detect
the bacteria and its resistance, and private practitioners are being
trained in better TB diagnosis as well.” GeneXpert helps in detecting
drug-resistant TB within two hours.
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Civil society movement for TB-free city
Friday, 24 March 2017 11:01
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The Hindu 24.03.2017
Civil society movement for TB-free city
To ensure early diagnosis and community support
For a TB-free Kochi, the corporation is launching a civil society
movement that is expected to create awareness on tuberculosis, its
diagnosis and treatment. Hibi Eden, MLA, will inaugurate the
programme at Town Hall at 11 a.m. on Friday. A.B. Sabu, Welfare Standing
Committee chairman, will preside. It will be implemented with the
technical support of the Department of Community Medicine, Amrita
Institute of Medical Sciences. The
aim of the movement is early diagnosis and community support for
treatment. Kudumbasree workers will take part in the programme. “Their
involvement will help find cases early as it has been found that there
is an average delay of three months in detection,” said Rakesh P.S.,
epidemiologist, public health consultant, Amrita Institute of Medical
Sciences. Community support for treatment would help boost patients’ confidence, he added.
From waste picker to entrepreneur, she has come a long way
Tuesday, 28 February 2017 07:57
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The Hindu 28.02.2017 From waste picker to entrepreneur, she has come a long way
Phenomenal riseAnnamma has established herself as an entrepreneur, in
the very sector that her grandmother eked out a living.Special
Arrangement
Annamma, the first rag picker to buy truck for door-to-door collection of dry waste in Bengaluru, runs a successful business
She was a 10-year-old girl when she started following her grandmother as she picked up waste from the city’s streets. Thirty
years later, Annamma has established herself as an entrepreneur in the
very sector that her grandmother eked out a living. She has become
the first waste picker to buy a truck for door-to-door collection of
dry waste in the city, and is already looking to purchase a second
vehicle in the near future. For somebody who was still picking waste from the streets even in 2013, Annamma’s rise is nothing less than phenomenal. “When
the civic body wanted waste pickers to start manning dry waste
collection centres (DWCC), I was not confident to take up the task. I
lived in a hut with no electricity and had saved Rs. 50,000 to build a
house. But I invested the money and started a DWCC. This centre has
grown into a business today,” she said, beaming with pride. She
has been running the DWCC for ward 101, Kamakshipalya for four years
now, and it’s a far cry from her earlier life. Money was scarce when she
used to scrounge the streets for waste. But at the DWCC, she now deals
with nearly two tonnes of dry waste every day. House of her own She was able to take a loan to build a three bedroom house in Ullal Upanagar, where her hut once stood. “My
daughters used to read sitting under a street light or read all night
on the new moon day, as there was no electricity. Today they have a
study room,” said Annamma. In
a recent move, Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has given the
responsibility of door-step collection of dry waste twice a week to
DWCCs mostly run by former waste pickers in their respective wards. This
entails expansion of DWCC operations and capital investments on vehicle
and men. Annamma, who is one of the more successful people in the
sector, acted decisively and purchased a truck start door-step
collection of waste. “I don’t know how to read or write. But I am good at Math because of the business that I run. “These
are tough times as the prices for plastic and paper waste have fallen.
So the only way to survive is to increase the volume which is what I
expect will happen with door-step collection,” Annamma explained her
strategy. Nalini Shekhar of the NGO Hasirudala, who has been
working with Annamma for the past four years, said that it is a
challenge for people like Annamma to become entrepreneurs as the waste
sector run by former ragpickers is not being considered as an industry
by banks. “For the truck Annamma has gone for a vehicle loan with
18% interest, which we are looking to be taken over by some institution
with a lower interest rate,” she said. Annamma is worried about the cost of expansion and the need to hire more people. “We
presently need six men to run the show. But we have employed only four
as my husband and I, work in the centre saving us the cost of two men,”
she said.
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