The Hindu 08.04.2010
“People should maintain civic discipline”
Special Correspondent
| To avoid breeding of mosquitoes and the outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases |
— Photo: D. Gopalakrishnan 
MOMENT OF HONOUR: A. V. Venkatachalam, Conservator of Forests, Vellore Circle, giving away a prize to a student of DKM College for Women at a special symposium on the college campus in Vellore on Wednesday. S. Balasubramaniam, RDMA, Vellore (left) and Raja Sivanandam, Deputy Director of Medical Services (TB), are in the picture.
VELLORE: People should maintain individual civic discipline by avoiding dumping of plastic wastes and other garbage in the drainage channels thereby causing blockade of the channels, and the resultant stagnation of drainage water, breeding of mosquitoes and the outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases, said K.S.T. Suresh, Deputy Director of Health Services (DDHS), Vellore.
Inaugurating a special symposium organised jointly by the Field Publicity Office, Vellore, office of the DDHS, Vellore, District Tuberculosis Centre and the National Service Scheme (NSS) of Dhanabagyam Krishnaswamy Mudaliar College for Women in connection with the World Health Day at the DKM College campus here on Wednesday, Dr. Suresh said that the general tendency among the public is to blame the government and the local bodies for problems such as stagnation of drainage water and the outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases, less realising the fact that the residents themselves were the reason for such a situation because of their habit of dumping wastes into the drainage channel. The people should also avoid the use of plastics, which are non-biodegradable and hence were difficult to be disposed of. He advocated home composting of wastes by the residents in order to avoid environmental problems caused by the accumulation of garbage. They could maintain kitchen gardens by using the compost generated at home and the kitchen water, he said.
S. Balasubramaniam, Regional Director of Municipal Administration (RDMA), Vellore said that rapid urbanisation had resulted in many health problems in the form of increasing generation of garbage because of the increase in the urban population owing to migration from rural areas, and increase in the number of slums with poor ventilation and inadequate living space. The sizes of the slums have also been reduced in order to accommodate more people. “In view of the reduction in the space available for houses, residents start constructing houses right in front of the public drainage in order to make the maximum use of available space, thus resulting in the blocking of the drainage channels by throwing of wastes”, he said.
Mr. Balasubramaniam said that the increase in the population on account of migration of people from rural areas has resulted in constraints in drinking water supply in urban local bodies, with the result in places such as Tharapadavedu Municipality, the administration was able to supply water only once in 10 days. This has necessitated the transportation of water from other places. Another problem faced by the urban local bodies was that 60% of the income goes towards payment of salaries to the staff, with the result they could not spend much on infrastructure development, he said.
A.V. Venkatachalam, Conservator of Forests, Vellore Circle said that rapid urbanisation has resulted in pollution and problems in the disposal of wastes. Water bodies and supply channels have got silted up and rendered useless because of the dumping of garbage, he said. He distributed prizes to Vijayashanthi, I year B.Sc. Chemistry student of DKM College for Women for giving a suggestion that migration from rural to urban areas could be prevented by starting schools, colleges and industries in the villages, and to Sumathi (II B.Sc. Zoology) for her suggestion that the number of trees could be increased by making the planting of a tree conditional for the issue of a family card.
Raja Sivanandam, Deputy Director of Medical Services (TB) stressed the need for pucca urban planning and housing in order to ensure safe and secure housing and an equitable future for the people.
He appealed to the people to use compact fluorescent lamps, avoid the use of plastic carry bags and plant one tree each during their lifetime to ensure the protection of the environment.
T. Sivakumar, Field Publicity Officer, Vellore, who delivered the keynote address, said that urbanisation and health is the theme of the World Health Day this year. The World Health Organisation has stated that programmes related to the theme should be conducted in 1000 cities and that 1000 persons who have contributed to the promotion of health of the people should be given awards. K. Revathy, Principal, DKM College for Women welcomed the gathering. Charumathi, NSS Programme Officer proposed a vote of thanks.
