Urban News

The Hindu 04.11.2009

A massive cleaning operation undertaken

Staff Reporter

IN ACTION: Collector P. Muthuveeran inspecting the kitchen of a restaurant in Theni on Tuesday.

THENI: A massive cleaning operation has been launched in Theni district to check the spread of viral fever. Action has also been initiated against hotels and restaurants here that do not keep their kitchen clean.

Already, health and sanitary workers in municipalities and panchayats have been advised to clean overhead tanks and ground-level tanks and apply chlorine to kill germs.

Insecticides are being sprayed on stagnant water on roadsides in Theni to kill mosquitoes and workers in rural areas have been directed to cart away waste to garbage dumps.

Collector P. Muthuveeran, who saw heaps of garbage on both sides of the railway track in the 26th ward of Theni municipality on Tuesday, ordered the civic body to clean the entire stretch immediately.

He also inspected cleaning operation at Palanichettipatti and Veerapandi town panchayats and Muthuthevanpatti and Upparpatti panchayats. Talking to media persons after inspecting the operation, Mr. Muthuveeran said cleaning operation was taking place on a large scale in all 130 village panchayats and 21 town panchayats and municipalities.

A total of 100 temporary health workers, 10 for each panchayat union, had been deputed for this work.

“We have kept sufficient stock of lifesaving drugs, particularly medicines for viral fever, at primary health centres and taluk and headquarter hospitals. All preventive measures have been taken to control the fever,” he added.

He also ordered closure of two hotels near central bus stand in Theni town that did not keep the kitchen clean. These hotels would be allowed to reopen only after obtaining a certificate from sanitation officials.

People should cooperate with the administration in keeping their surroundings clean, an important measure to prevent the spread of any disease, Mr. Muthuveeran said.

The Hindu 04.11.2009

Biometric survey of slum-dwellers begins

Special Correspondent

Photo: S. Siva Saravanan

NEW INITIATIVE: A woman gets her thumb impression recorded during a biometric survey in the city on Tuesday. —

COIMBATORE: Under a scheme to provide houses to slum-dwellers, a bio-metric survey of about 2,000 families living in the slums that encroached upon Valankulam Tank began in Ward 25 in the city on Tuesday. The impression of the left thumb of the beneficiaries were being scanned and stored in a database along with the family and income details.

This exercise was part of the Basic Services for the Urban Poor scheme that was being implemented by the Coimbatore Corporation under the Central Government’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. The objective of the scheme was to create slum-less cities.

Coimbatore was among 63 cities in the country to be covered under the scheme for providing houses with all civic amenities to people living in hutments.

South Zone Chairman P. Pynthamil, who launched the survey, said houses in multi-storeyed tenements would be allotted to each eligible family. Families of persons in government service, including conservancy workers, were not eligible, Mr. Pynthamil said. The targeted beneficiaries worked as domestic help or were daily wage earners. Each family would get a house of 270 sq.ft., costing Rs.1.6 lakh, he said. The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board would construct the tenements at Ammankulam and Ukkadam for 3,840 families out of the total 9,840 living in slums on water bodies.

The provision of houses for the rest 6,000 families would require acquisition of lands.

The survey would serve as a fool-proof record during allocation of houses. It would show all the details such as ration card number, names of the family members, their photographs and annual income.

The database would show if a beneficiary had already been allotted a house. If any beneficiary wanted to apply for one more house by using a bogus family card, the data available would expose this. “Once the houses are ready, these families on Valankulam will vacate the tank area,” Mr. Pynthamil, who represented Ward 25, said.