The New Indian Express 11.10.2010
Waste-spewing hotel pose health hazards
PUDUCHERRY: An act of compassion, if seen in hindsight, could well be thought to be an act of folly for a house owner residing on Chetty Street in Puducherry, who rented out the ground floor of her house to a popular hotel. That singular action has posed a health hazard to everybody- the house owner, the street residents and the inhabitants of a nearby school. The reason being that the hotel has been discharging waste matter into the drainage.Dhanalakshmi, the house owner, said that she had rented the ground floor of her house to a branch of the famous hotel - Indian Coffee House (ICH), following the closure of their place on Nehru Street for renovation. Her main motivation was that the workers of ICH, a government co-operative society, would stand to lose their jobs if the hotel closed down.
Though the initial agreement had been one for 11 months starting September 11, 2008, the hotel continues to function there. This even after the house owner requested them to vacate, failing which a legal notice was issued.
“Several notices had been sent by the PWD and the municipality but to no avail. Once, the PWD even blocked the drainage by force after they did not heed to a couple of warning notices issued by them. But the hotel being a government organisation had pulled some strings in the government and the block was immediately removed,” said Rajendra Gupta, a resident of that place.
Following the residents’ numerous complaints, in one of the several letters dated April 1, 2009, the Puducherry municipality had issued a notice to the hotel manager stating that the hotel’s drainage line was connected to the road side ‘L’ drain, which was unhygienic and posed health hazards to the residents nearby and hence the drainage line should be connected immediately to the underground drainage system to avoid further discharge of waste water into the open drain. The letter added that action would be taken against the hotel as per the Municipal Act if the hotel authorities did not heed this warning.”
It has been more than a year now and no action has been in sight. Not only this, functioning from a residence, the hotel did not follow any fire safety norms or other such norms that are expected to be followed in a commercial unit.
The municipal councillor in that area, R Kumaran, said, “Several times I have asked the hotel manager to see to these problems and have even personally filed a complaint with the Puducherry municipality, dating back to April, 2009. But, this being a part of the co-operative society, no strict action was enforced. Hence, we were left with the only option to arrange for workers to clean the drainage time and again.” Not only Chetty Street residents, but even a nearby school, the Societe Progressiste Government-Aided High School, is up in arms as its students who normally have their food outside on the open verandah are forced to put up with the nauseating smell emanating from the drains. The school correspondent tried all he could through the education department to stop the hotel but in vain.
The hotel management also seems to have a legitimate reason for sticking on, saying that the government had been delaying the renovation process for the original building forcing them to stay here. “Laying out a drainage pipe into the underground drainage system means a cost of more than Rs 25,000 and we do not have funds for the same. Also, such tasks should be taken care of by the house owner and not us,” argued a higher official from ICH.Not the municipality, not the PWD, not the education department, not the Chetty Street residents seem to be able to shut down the hotel. As for the owner Dhanalaksmi, it seems that she has unwittingly created a monster.
