The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Pulianthope residents list woes, seek action

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 12, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Pulianthope residents list woes, seek action

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, JULY 11. Residents of Pulianthope, where cholera broke out in mid-May, have voiced serious concern over the deteriorating sanitary conditions, sewage overflow and contamination of drinking water.

The residents of colonies falling under Corporation Divisions 40, 41 and 42 got together today and resolved to press the authorities to take steps to prevent fresh cholera outbreaks. They said that complaints to Corporation officials at the divisional and zonal offices had yielded no result. The councillors hardly visited the areas or took interest in taking up local grievances, the residents alleged.

At a citizens' convention on sanitation and health organised by Coordination of People's Struggle Committees here today, the residents complained that sewer connections were old and unable to carry the load, leading to frequent overflow. The sewage also seeped into drinking water lines. Several houses received contaminated drinking water through the supply lines, while the main line carried clear water, said Pachchaiyamman, a resident of Lal Singh Street.

The stormwater drains too remained clogged with rubbish. Sewer lines were clogged and overflowed frequently. New sewer lines were laid about a year ago but they had not been connected to the houses yet, another resident said.

Contamination of drinking water was to blame for several diseases prevalent in the area, said K. Bijai Kumar, a private consultant at Otteri. The public health authorities, he said, should address problems caused by the unsanitary conditions.

In neighbouring Periyar Nagar, a Slum Clearance Board tenement area, the sewage had no outlet and tended to stagnate between buildings. Indiscriminate garbage dumping compounded the problem. Some of the sewage was flowing into an adjacent piece of vacant land emitting a stench. "If we ask the conservancy workers to clear the rubbish, they ask for money," said a resident.

The residents wanted daily removal of garbage. They said Otteri and Pulianthope had three transfer stations — two on Basin Bridge Road and another in S.S. Puram. The conservancy personnel set fire to the garbage to reduce the mass before transporting them to dumps at Perungudi and Kodungaiyur. The smoke blanketed neighbouring residential areas, causing respiratory problems.

The lacunae in medical services in the area were also pointed out. Lakshmi of Pulianthope said government hospitals in the city had no supply of anti-rabies injections. She said that at the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital, only seven dog-bite victims were given injections a day.

The convention passed resolutions demanding steps to prevent cholera, hepatitis, typhoid and malaria outbreak, to construct a bigger underground sewerage network to cater for the present population, daily removal of garbage and upgrading health care centres by posting adequate number of doctors in the thickly-populated areas of north Chennai. Another resolution demanded the construction of a children's hospital.

N.P. Durai, convener, Coordination of People's Struggle Committees, and N. Kumaresh, advisor to the coordination committee, conducted the meeting. The resolutions will be submitted as a memorandum to the Health and Local Administration departments and the Chennai Corporation.

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