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Public Health / Sanitation

Concern over dumping of waste

Saturday, 20 February 2010 02:07 administrator
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The Hindu 20.02.2010

Concern over dumping of waste

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor

Thiruvalla municipal corporation yet to identify land for the purpose


Sensitivity needed: Liquid waste being drained from a tanker lorry into a wetland in the Thiruvalla town limits on Friday.

PATHANAMTHITTA: Dumping of waste, including toilet waste, brought in tanker lorries on the Mazhuvangad wetlands along Chairmans Road in Thiruvalla is posing a health hazard.

Waste from hotels, markets, unauthorised slaughter houses, piggeries, chicken corners, markets and bio-medical waste from hospitals are dumped here without any concern for the law.

The civic body itself dumps waste on the wetlands as it has failed to identify a dumping yard away from the thickly populated town.

Civic authorities used to shift the waste dumped at sites near the municipal stadium to the wetlands adjoining the children’s park and a plot near Pushpagiri Medical College (PMC) following protests from the local people.

A senior citizen staying near the PMC told The Hindu that the civic body lacked political will and social responsibility in tackling the menace.

A proposal of the Mar Athanasios College for Advanced Studies Thiruvalla (MACFAST) and the Bodhana Social Service Society for implementing a decentralised waste disposal mechanism in the municipal limits appears to have been put on the backburner by the authorities, another resident said. The problem has become so grave that the wells in the vicinity are polluted with seepage from the polluted wetlands, he added.

Thomas P.Thomas, botanist, said many freshwater fish species had become extinct and the remaining fish varieties too were facing the threat of extinction due to the dumping of chemical waste on the wetlands.

Certain portions of the Kottathode and Mullely canals that flow through the Mazhuvanga Chira have been filled by private parties, blocking the natural flood escape routes.

Moreover, the dumping of waste has been posing serious health and pollution problems to the patients at the PMC, students and staff at nearby Titus-II Teachers College and the local people.

Last Updated on Saturday, 20 February 2010 02:08
 

Plastic waste keeps piling up

Friday, 19 February 2010 07:27 administrator
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The Hindu 19.02.2010

Plastic waste keeps piling up

Jiby Kattakayam

Kudumbasree workers directed not to collect it from houses

 

Lone surviving plastic collection depot wound up

Corporation to set up a plastic recycling plant

Kozhikode: With Kudumbasree workers not collecting plastic materials in several places in the city, and the ban on plastic bags coming into effect from March 1, the problem of plastic waste dumping looks set to return. But officials are firm that plastic will not be collected and have been urging citizens to curtail its use.

However city residents complain that several essential food products like milk and perishable and processed foods come in plastic sachets, bags and bottles. These are piling up at homes due to the directions given to Kudumbasree not to collect them and this will soon become a health hazard, they feel.

Recently, the lone surviving plastic collection depot in the city at West Hill wound up due to opposition from neighbouring institutions and residents. Three years ago another plastic collection depot at Kallayi closed down due to protests. With no space available for plastic collection, the Corporation is moving quickly to set up a plastic recycling plant at the West Hill Industrial Estate. But this project will take at least two years to fructify according to the most optimistic estimates.

A Rs.20-lakh project to construct a building for the recycling plant is expected to be approved by the District Planning Council in its meeting on February 20. Funds for the plant machinery will be allocated in the 2011-12 financial year.

Corporation Health Officer Beena Kumari says the use of plastics including bags, cups and plates have begun to shoot up in recent times after falling significantly a few years ago. “The Njelianparamba plant can only treat bio-degradable material. After the West Hill depot was closed down we have no place to take the waste plastic to. The Corporation is trying to engage private agencies to collect plastic materials from homes or residential associations,” she said.

“People demand the best facilities in cities but they oppose a waste-disposal unit, a slaughterhouse or vegetable market coming up in their immediate surroundings,” said a Corporation engineer.

Sub-depots that the Corporation had set up at Nadakkavu and other places to make it easy for people to deposit their plastic wastes were closed down following complaints from neighbours.

Last Updated on Friday, 19 February 2010 07:32
 

Corporation to hire machine from Delhi MC to clean choked sewer lines

Wednesday, 17 February 2010 11:37 administrator
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Indian Express 17.02.2010

Corporation to hire machine from Delhi MC to clean choked sewer lines

Raakhi Jagga Tags : corporation, clean choked sewer lines Posted: Wednesday, Feb 17, 2010 at 2342 hrs
Ludhiana: To clear the choked sewer lines in various parts of the city on which Ludhiana Municipal Corporation has spent crores, MC Commissioner A K Sinha has found a solution. Sinha plans to bring a special suction machine from the Delhi Municipal Corporation on rent for 15 days to carry out demonstration in a few areas of the city. The machine, which will arrive on February 19, costs Rs 1 crore.

Sinha said, “We will carry out the demonstration in Dholewal where despite having invested crores of rupees on storm sewer, our lines remain choked. Waterlogging has become a perennial problem after a mild rainfall.”

He added,”Our engineers have proposed to lay new lines at the cost of Rs one crore but I think if we get the lines thoroughly cleaned with the help of the special machine, we can tackle the problem.” Sinha said, “If the machine yields positive results then we will purchase a similar machine to clean other choked lines of the city.”

Sources, however, revealed that more than 80 per cent of the sewer lines in the city are chocked and they have not been cleaned for years.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 17 February 2010 11:47
 
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