The Times of India 17.11.2009

RMC launches health drive, targets 6.1 lakh students

TNN 17 November 2009, 10:32pm IST

RAJKOT/JAMNAGAR: Nearly 6.1 lakh schoolchildren will be checked as part of Rajkot municipal corporation's health drive launched on Monday. The three-month-long drive will end on January 9, 2010.

In Rajkot, a team of 75 MBBS doctors and 19 BAMS (Ayurvedic) doctors will be covering 1,612 anganwadi (kindergarten), 1,804 primary and 406 secondary schools, conducting health check-ups of 6,10,088 children, said district chief health officer Dr AS Sanghavi.

Sanghavi gave out details of the drive during a meeting with the district collector on Monday. The meeting gave an overview of the health scenario in Rajkot district to the state administration through video conferencing.

"Also joining this drive is a team of 23 referral doctors, 21 government doctors and two private doctors," said Sanghavi.

The drive assumes significance in the light of shocking data collected during last year's health check-up camp, in which 162 students of class VIII and IX were found to be suffering from heart diseases in Rajkot district. Of these, 13 students had to be shifted to a hospital in Chennai and operated upon. The state government had spent Rs 13 lakh after the surgery and treatment.

The remaining 149 students were moved to UN Mehta Hospital and provided treatment. This apart, several students were found to have vision problems and were provided with spectacles.

"In Jamnagar, a total of 1,400 anganwadis, 1,800 primary and 250 high schools will be covered under this drive meant for children in the age group of 1 to 17," said district health officer Dr DK Patel. The drive will be conducted under the supervision of district development officer JM Luni. The drive is conducted every year since 1997. Health check-up of 4.5 lakh students in Kutch, 4.69 lakh in Surendrangar, 3.0 lakh students in Bhavnagar have already been conducted.

The Hindu 16.11.2009

Garbage piles up in various parts of Puducherry

Staff Reporter

Photo: C. Venkatachalapathy

Eyesore: Uncleared garbage, which has accumulated near a bin on Bharathi Street in Puducherry. —

PUDUCHERRY: Overflowing garbage bins and heaps of waste lying on roadsides have become a common sight in various parts of the Puducherry Municipality in the last few days. Delay in identifying a site to dump garbage has halted garbage collection work in the municipal limits.

Garbage collected from the municipality areas were being dumped at Karuvadikuppam until a week ago. Following protests from residents of the area, the local body was left with no place to dump the waste. The process of identifying a new site has not materialised so far, said officials.

Garbage clearance work has come to a standstill. As a result, garbage has piled up in several parts of the municipality, including residential areas and streets in Muthialpet, Uppalam, Mudaliarpet, Nellithope and many parts of the boulevard.

Mission Street, Bharathi Street, Saint Therese Street, Rangapillai Street, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Laporte Street, S.V. Patel Salai, Bussy Street, Bonkare Street, Pondy-Cuddalore Road at Mudaliarpet, interior roads adjoining Maraimalai Adigal Salai, Uppalam Road and many more stretches have been facing garbage woes in the last few days. Nearly 370 tonnes of garbage were being collected every day from the municipal areas.

Garbage has not been cleared for almost a week from several residential areas, resulting in stench. Most of the bins on many stretches have started to overflow with waste ending up littering the roads, said residents.

In addition, markets in the municipal limits, including the Goubert market and Nellithope market, have been facing the brunt of accumulating garbage.

Officials of the municipality said a site in Karasur was identified and nearly 10 to 20 loads of garbage were dumped on Saturday. But residents of the surrounding areas opposed on Sunday morning, leaving the local body with no choice but to look out for another land.

“The problem is persisting for the last one week. We will soon identify suitable land for the purpose,” he said.