Urban News

The Hindu      09.06.2010

Garbage mound poses health hazard to school students

Staff Reporter

— PHOTO:M.GOVARTHAN

Health Risk:Garbage heap in front of a Corporation middle school at Vinayagar Temple Street in Karungalpalayam, Erode.

ERODE: The indiscriminate dumping of garbage near the Erode Corporation Middle School at Vinayagar Temple Street in Karungalpalayam here poses serious threat to the health of students.

Residents in the street and a few commercial establishments dispose the waste in the bin kept near the school. As the Corporation is not carrying out regular cleaning, the bin overflows and the residents are forced to dump waste on the roadsides.

Students studying in the school are often found playing near the bin, risking their health.

Stench

“The stench emanating from the heaps of rotting garbage has become unbearable these days. The uncollected garbage also attracts stray dogs in large number,” teachers in the school say.

The school has over 500 students and majority of them belong to the families listed below the poverty line. “Some of the students come to school without wearing footwear. Children often walk over the heaps of garbage,” teachers point out.

Parents expressed serious concern over the poor sanitary conditions in the area as the authorities responsible were not doing their work. “The Corporation should send in trucks and workers to clear the rubbish on a regular basis,” they say.

“Otherwise, there will be continuous outbreak of diseases like cholera and dysentery.”

Teachers and parents had appealed to the civic authorities on several occasions to remove the garbage bin and prevent people from dumping waste near the school. “But no one listened to our pleas,” parents allege.

The haphazard dumping of waste continues in almost all parts of the town as the authorities are not doing much to solve the problem.

It is very common to see heaps of garbage along the streets, pathways and roads in the town.

The situation is grim in the thickly populated areas falling under Sooramangalam and Veerappan Chatram municipalities.

Mounds of rotting garbage lie uncollected in many residential colonies in these municipalities for weeks together.

The Hindu     08.06.2010

Residents' plea to shift sewage treatment plant to outskirts

Staff Reporter

TUTICORIN: A group of residents from wards 20, 34 and 35 submitted petition to Collector G. Prakash on Monday seeking his intervention to shift the sewage treatment plant reportedly being established amidst the residential area as part of the ongoing underground drainage project undertaken by the corporation.

The petitioners said the sewage treatment plant, being constructed to separate human waste and water from the sewerage to be pumped from various parts of Tuticorin, was being established in the midst of the residential colony, housing over 4,200 families. While the separated water would be sent into the sea, the solid waste would be transported to other areas.

When the plant would become operational, the foul smell emanating from it would make the residential area unfit for living and the separated water to be sent into the sea would affect the fishing operations as the plant was coming up near the fishing harbour. Moreover, it would also hit the salt pans badly, they noted.

To avoid these adverse impending dangers, the plant might be shifted to a non-residential area beyond Siluvaipatti, another coastal hamlet near Tuticorin.

“This shifting of the sewage treatment plant may escalate the project cost to some extent. But considering the safety and wellbeing of the residents living near the upcoming plant, the district administration should consider this appeal,” said Rev. Fr. Sahayaraj, who accompanied the petitioners.