Low-cost sewage treatment: PMC, citizens innovate
Monday, 12 April 2010 11:07
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Indian Express 12.04.2010 Low-cost sewage treatment: PMC, citizens innovateNitinPatil Tags : corporation, sewage treatment plant Posted: Monday , Apr 12, 2010 at 2253 hrs  Pune: While the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has to invest crores of rupees to set up a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), its own minor project on a nullah (drain) near Sinhagad Road is treating water not using electricity, but thrapproximately 2-km nullah, which starts in Anandnagar area on Sinhagad Road has in fact used only environment-friendly methods of treating the sewage water. No chemicals were used. While it would have required Rs 15 lakh for the civic body just for electricity to treat the the contaminated nullah water, the water pollution level has come down by 65 per cent just by raising bunds and iron screens across the nullah, making life easier for residents as the odour has almost disappeared. Based on a premise put forth by a local citizen, Ajay Vaishampayan, the civic body agreed to implement this project and set aside Rs 5 lakh for the infrastructure. The city based Shrishti Eco Research Institute provided the technical support. “After last year's rains, we started off this project and it took us about three months to complete it. But before we could go ahead with the project, we had to clear off the path of the nullah. The volume of plastic litter and other waste we removed was about fifty truckloads. Once the nullah path was cleared, we put up two bunds and three iron screens at different locations. These screens obstructed the path of waste material and it was easy to collect the waste and remove it at one go,” Sandeep Joshi, director of Shristhi Institute. The local citizens were also made aware that throwing the garbage into the stream was not a good thing and as people were diverted from doing it, things started changing for better. “Earlier, the same nullah used to give out a offensive odour. However, now, there is hardly any bad smell and the water coming out of the screens and bunds no more as contaminated as it was in the past. Along the nullah, saplings of indigenous species of trees have been planted, which also soak in contaminated water,” Vaishampayan said. “There are about 150 nullahs in the city and if we implement a similar project on each one of it, we will be able to save the river water from contamination in some way at leastough natural methods. The civic body, local citizens and a research institute have together improved the water quality of the once-dirty nullah to make its presence bearable to the residential societies located along it. This, ,” an official from the garden department of the PMC said.
Last Updated on Monday, 12 April 2010 11:11
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Special training to keep Games dengue-free
Thursday, 08 April 2010 11:13
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Indian Express 08.04.2010 Special training to keep Games dengue-freeNew Delhi: In October, when dengue mosquitoes begin breeding, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) will be ready with its squad to tackle the menace. The civic body is setting up eight new control rooms that will stock pesticides for prompt action. The council is also training its health officers in using pesticides to check the incidence of mosquito-related diseases during the Commonwealth Games. According to Dr P K Sharma, Medical Officer of Health (MOH), NDMC, different approaches are required to free different areas of mosquitoes. “We teach them how to use various types of pesticides on land, water and shrubs. Different medicines are required for even clean and dirty water,” he said. The control rooms will be set up in the eight dengue circles that NDMC had earlier constituted to tackle situations — Gole Market, Mandir Marg, President’s Estate, Golf Links, Chanakyapuri, Netaji Nagar, Lodi Colony and Prithvi Raj Lane. The NDMC office at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Place in Gole Market, which already has a control room, will act as the central control room with a helpline number 23340108, which will be operational in a few months. After receiving a call about mosquito breeding, the central control room will contact the affected area’s control room to send help. Each control room will have two spray teams. The NDMC Health department, responsible for cleanliness in Lutyens’ Zone, will start setting up the control rooms from June. At present, the civic body is inspecting its residential colonies to check for stagnant water. The new control rooms will tackle malaria, chikungunya and dengue. Besides setting up the control rooms, the NDMC will also hold awareness programmes in its area and schools. In the past, the civic body had distributed pamphlets on prevention of mosquito breeding and regularly booked people whose tanks are found to be unclean.
Last Updated on Thursday, 08 April 2010 11:17
Health screening programme launched
Thursday, 08 April 2010 05:39
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The Hindu 08.04.2010 Health screening programme launched Staff Reporter Thrissur: The Thrissur Corporation in association with the Amala Cancer Hospital and Research Centre here launched a year-long health screening programme on World Health Day on Wednesday. Mayor R. Bindu inaugurated the programme, aimed at creating awareness of lifestyle diseases among the urban population. Under the programme, to be held in all the 52 divisions of the City Corporation, screening booths will be arranged at public places every week. The public can check their blood pressure and diabetes and know their body mass index at the booths. The theme of the World Health Day this year was ‘Urbanisation and health'. According to WHO, increasing urbanisation has become a serious threat to public health. Dr. C.R. Saju, associate professor, Community Medicine Department of Amala Hospital, said that the programme envisaged covering the entire adult population in the corporation limits. A panel of expert doctors, including an endocrinologist, preventive medicine experts and nutritionist, will conduct weekly medical camps to provide medical advice. An obesity management clinic is also on the anvil. Special programmes will be conducted in schools to sensitise students about lifestyle management.
Last Updated on Thursday, 08 April 2010 05:40
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