Urban News

The Hindu 04.09.2009

Burning waste dump along road causes concern

Special Correspondent

COIMBATORE: The acrid smell of burning rubber and leather emanates from a huge heap of burning garbage, about 100 ft from Pollachi Main Road. Traffic was thrown out of gear on this road on Monday, as a thick cloud of smoke caused poor visibility.

No assurance

The dump was smouldering on Tuesday and there was no assurance that this incident would not recur.

“This is because the spot seems to be a dumping spot for disposing of huge amount of garbage,” Madukkarai Union Secretary of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam V. Easwaran said. He called for steps to end this problem in a petition submitted to Collector P. Umanath on Monday.

Located a km from the Vinayaka Temple at Eachanari, before Pollachi Road-Nilambur Bypass Road junction, the dump had all kinds of discarded footwear made of rubber and leather.

A few sacks of yellow powder, suspected to be a chemical was found at two other spots in the same area that came under the Seerapalayam Panchayat.

Suspicions

There were suspicions that this waste was brought from the neighbouring State of Kerala, Councillor of Kurichi Municipality G. Mahalingam said. “But, the dumping and setting the waste on fire seem to be happening at night, as no one seems to have seen any vehicle bringing these here,” he said.

Mr. Easwaran asked: “If the waste had indeed come from Kerala, how could it reach here despite the check posts on the way?”

A little more than a km away, there was huge heap of discarded footwear along a bylane, off the bypass road. A person who ran a hotel nearby said the dumping should be happening late in the night as no one had seen it happening. But, the dumping was causing a lot of inconvenience to the public, he said.

Reckless

The MDMK activist and the councillor said reckless dumping and burning of garbage was widespread between the Kurichi Municipality and the Madukkarai Panchayat Union.

There were many spots, mostly open spaces along roads that were being used to dump all kinds of waste, including those from the chicken stalls.

The Hindu 04.09.2009

Corporation Middle School at Mannarai to get new building

Staff Reporter

Tirupur: Deviating from the planned itinerary, the Legislature Committee on Estimates carried out a surprise inspection at the Corporation Middle School in Mannarai here on Wednesday following allegations of neglect to the institution by the authorities concerned.

War footing

After the examination, the Chairman of the Estimates Committee, Kuthalam K. Anbazhagan (MLA of Kuttalam), told reporters that the check, had revealed the necessity to expand the infrastructure in the institution on a war footing.

“We have suggested to the Corporation administration to take steps to commence the construction of new building for the school at the earliest on the plot which has been donated by a well-wisher, to avoid the congestion on the present premises,” he said.

The Committee members noticed during the visit that the school functions from two rooms for 172 students studying from Standard I to Standard VIII. Mr. Anbazhagan added that the Corporation officials had been requested to allocate at least a portion from the corpus of Rs. 10 crore sanctioned by the State Government for infrastructure development of Tirupur Corporation-run schools, to the Mannarai School for its immediate maintenance.

Deep freezers

Earlier, the Estimates Committee visited Palladam Taluk Office, various fair price shops, two government schools in Nallur, Chavadipalayam Primary Health Centre and Kangayam Government Hospital.

Medical officials at Kangayam Government Hospital pointed out to the Committee the need to establish deep freezers for the hospital’s mortuary.

Presently, the hospital, which carries out at least 20 autopsies a month, is lacking the facility to store the body overnight. The Committee assured the doctors and the public that the matter would be taken to the notice of the Government.

Collector C. Samayamoorthy accompanied the six-member Estimates Committee during the day-long visit. Senior officials were also present.