Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi   

Thottiam residents' tale of woe

Staff Reporter

Fear of drinking water contamination looms large

NEGLECT: The overhead tank, which has not been cleaned since 2001. — PHOTO: R.M.RAJARATHINAM.

TIRUCHI : Residents of Thottiam dread an outbreak of waterborne diseases, what with a fear of drinking water contamination looming large.

The existing overhead tank, with a capacity to hold four lakh litres, has not been cleaned since 2001. The inscriptions indicate that the tank was cleaned previously on March 27, 2001. Enquiries among the locals reveal that the tank water has not been chlorinated for years together.

Interestingly, from April 30, 2000, since the tank was constructed, cleaning had been undertaken for 14 months on a monthly basis. Thereafter, the local body has been woefully lacking in rising up to the civic needs of the community, businessmen in the vicinity of the Thottiam Bus Stand, charge.

The tank supplies drinking water to Kosavampatti, Kowthanur, Sithur, Arikulam, Thevathanam, and Vadakarai, besides Thottiam town. In their preoccupation with intra and inter party squabbles, councillors, the public allege, have not evinced interest in monitoring the maintenance of infrastructure fulfilling civic needs.

For instance, no bus enters the bus stand, which has remained a namesake one without any bays or shelter. Consumer welfare activists, who question the attitude of drivers to avoid entering the bus stand, are countered with the question: Where is the bus stand?

If anything, the space is utilised for parking cars and vans. Small streams of drainages criss-cross the bus stand, and during the rainy season, the situation turns appalling with the mosquito problem. The concept of fumigation has been given a shrift, says a shopkeeper.

The public are, however, yet to confirm whether rising incidences of illness is due to the unhygienic situation. Unfortunately for the residents in and around Thottiam, the Government hospital is understaffed. To make matters worse, the three doctors manning the hospital do not maintain regularity in their timings. There have been instances of doctors coming at 10 in the morning and leaving by mid-day, says a resident.

As a consequence, the lower middle-class travel up to the city to avail treatment from KAP Viswanatham Government Medical College Hospital, and those who can afford treatment in private hospitals prefer to go to hospitals in Namakkal district, which is just 45-minute drive away.

It is no exaggeration that unless remedial measures are undertaken on a war footing, a spark in the form of an epidemic could turn Thottiam into a powder keg for the district administration, educated section in the town feels.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Thottiam residents' tale of woe
All-women cooperative societies raise milk quality
Focus on milk quality
`Upgrade Manapparai Government Hospital'
Surplus discharge from Mettur diverted into the Coleroon
A silent Deepavali this year, thanks to SC ruling
National Research Centre's advice to banana growers
Advice to banana growers
Sending a `sound' message sans noise
Ravaged by rain, roads turn a cross-country track
Where the Collectorate serves as a playground
`Expose youths to evils of the society'
In Tiruchi Today

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu