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Public Health / Sanitation

3,500 civic staff for clean-up operations

Wednesday, 22 September 2010 11:19 administrator
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The Hindu  22.09.2010

3,500 civic staff for clean-up operations

Special Correspondent

Two base camps set up at NTR Marg and Tank Bund

Entire anti-malaria division is being pressed into service

HYDERABAD: The GHMC will be pressing as many as 3,500 staff to take care of health and sanitation aspects for the Ganesh idols' immersion procession on Wednesday. Two base camps were set up at NTR Marg and Tank Bund and its sanitary staff will also be working from 3 a.m. on September 23 (Thursday) for the cleaning up operations.

Action plan

Explaining the action plan, Additional Commissioner S. Aleem Basha said on Tuesday that the sanitary personnel had already taken up 40 trips on both sides of the Hussainsagar Lake for cleaning up in the last couple of days when many idols started coming for immersion.

More than 100 vehicles including tippers, front-end loaders, JCBs, sweeping machines, bobcarts and others will be pressed into service not only at Hussainsagar but also at Saroornagar, Safilguda and other lakes in different circles.

The municipal personnel will also be stationed on routes of M.J. Market to Liberty, Karbala Maidan, M.G. Road to R.P. Road, Afzalgunj to M.J. Market and Charminar to Afzalgunj.

Toilets

Temporary toilets are being provided at different locations and the entire anti-malaria division is being pressed into service. Sufficient quantities of lime and bleaching powder were kept ready. Commissioner Sameer Sharma has also stated that the Assistant Medical and Health Officers of circles 11 & 12 will look after clean-up operations after immersions at Durgam Lake, medical officers of Circle 14 will be in-charge of Kukatpally Lake, medical officer of circle 17 of Safilguda Lake and medical officer of circle 3 for Saroornagar Lake.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 22 September 2010 11:21
 

Dengue dread fails to goad PMC into action

Wednesday, 22 September 2010 11:16 administrator
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The Times of India     22.09.2010

Dengue dread fails to goad PMC into action

PATNA: Even as dengue scare is fast spreading, Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) is fiddling. Or so it seems.

City doctors are worried. "There are two ways of curbing the menace. One, the government should undertake a massive awareness drive so as to prompt people to take precautionary measures. Two and more importantly, there should be extensive fogging in areas from where dengue cases have been reported," retired government doctor SN Dubey said and added less-density fogging should be done even in other areas of the city.

The worst hit are tens of hundreds of students staying in the city, far away from their parents, as they care a damn about precautionary measures. Quite a few doctors told TOI several students suffering from fever visited them for consultation and blood samples of some of them were sent for lab test.

Ask officials about fogging, and they make tall claims. "Fogging is done exclusively in the evening as that is the swarming time of mosquitoes," PMC's New Capital circle executive officer Shashank Shekhar Sinha said. According to him, only one fogging machine is at his disposal and, as such, only one ward is covered in a day. "We are also spraying bleaching powder and kerosene on stagnant waters," he said.

Sinha, however, looked the other way when asked how was it possible to urgently cover the 29 wards of the New Capital circle with only one fogging machine.

PMC mayor Afzal Imam sang a different tune: "We have three fogging machines functional with which extensive fogging is being done in areas falling under our jurisdiction."

Asked how was it possible to do that with only three machines, Imam said only fogging could not do wonders. "Much depends on the quality of bleaching powder and medicines," he said and added the health department also has a role to play to curb the menace.

Residents of Patna Saheb, Kankerbagh, Kurji, Rajendra Nagar and Mithapur rubbished the claims of Sinha and Imam on fogging. "I am a retired person and remain at home virtually 24X7. I am yet to see any fogging this year," said Surendra Jha of Kankerbagh.

There's a good news, however. The government has provided four additional fogging machines to the city civic body. "These machines would soon be used in the New Capital circle area," PMC senior executive Sudhir Kumar Sinha informed TOI.

Rain of late has been lashing the city quite often and water has stagnated at many places. Stagnant clean water is an ideal place for dengue mosquitoes, Dr B N Dinesh of Kurji said as he underlined the urgent need for fogging in the city.

Sadly, PMC as of now remains out of action, dengue deaths from places like Munger and Begusarai notwithstanding.

 

Biogas plant spews decayed waste

Wednesday, 22 September 2010 10:56 administrator
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The New Indian Express  22.09.2010

Biogas plant spews decayed waste

KOCHI: Blame it on the lackadaisical attitude of the civic body of Kochi and the health department of the city. Sheer negligence on the part of the authorities has paved the way for the leakage of the biogas plant at Ernakulam Market. The decayed waste from the plant has flowed into the nearby pond (Chanthakkulam) and is becoming a menace to the public.

The biogas plant has been defunct for nearly one-and-a-half years. Still, the  majority of waste from hotels was dumped into the plant. The pipe from the plant was choked due to waste accumulation. “On Monday morning, some contingency workers from the health department came and tried to clean the pipe. But half way through, the pipe broke and the waste gushed into the pond,” said Abdul Salam, a banana vendor in the area.

The nauseating smell caused a headache to many, he said. Later some officials from the Corporation came and inspected the scene.  “They sent some contingency workers who sprinkled bleaching powder into the pond and left. But it did not help in any way,”  Salam said. The situation has not improved even on Tuesday.

The shopkeepers in the area said that they had complained about the sad state of the plant to the Corporation authorities umpteen times. “But they turned a blind eye to it and have not taken any steps so far to make the  plant operational,” said Paulose, a rice vendor.

However, an official from the Kochi Corporation health department said that they had sprinkled bleaching powder as a primary measure. “We have already informed the staff of Brahmapuram Solid Waste Treatment Plant about the situation. We are planning to bring in two suckers from Brahmapuram and get the waste materials sucked out from the plant and the nearby area,” the official said.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 22 September 2010 10:58
 
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