Kerala - Kozhikode   

Rotting waste posing health hazard

Staff Reporter

Garbage heaps being sprayed with disinfectants

DRUMMING UP SUPPORT: Shaji Kallayi performing on the drums to draw the attention of the authorities to the issues like piling up of garbage and lack of proper street light around Mananchira, in Kozhikode on Friday. Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup

KOZHIKODE: There seems to be no let up in the garbage disposal system in the city as solid wastes continue to pile up at different centres posing a likely health hazard and evoking protests from different quarters.

Corporation Heath Officer Beena Kumari said that mounds of putrefying garbage, especially with the revival of the South West monsoon posed a health hazard, and measures such as spraying the waste piles with disinfectants have been launched by the Corporation as a precautionary measure.

"Notably the amount of waste collected in the city has increased considerably totalling to more than 150 tonnes a day.

(Residents in the vicinity of Njelinaparambu trenching ground had prevented the Corporation trucks from unloading wastes as leach ate from the yard had overflowed to neighbouring areas after the heavy rain a fortnight back.)

"Emphasis will be given on segregation of wastes. Kudumbasree volunteers will be asked not to accept biodegradable waste in polythene covers. Waste should be disposed of in containers provided to households in the right manner.''

"As many as 24 trucks were unloaded at Njelianparambu on Wednesday, and 27 were unloaded on Thursday. More trucks will unload wastes on Friday.''

District Medical Officer V.K. Krishnankutty did not rule out the possibility of outbreak of diseases such as rat fever, dengue and dysentery due to the putrefying wastes in the city. Dr. Krishnankutty said a meeting of district authorities had decided to address the issue on an urgent basis, and the situation was expected to improve.

The Corporation authorities, meanwhile, were trying to solve the looming crisis in a phased manner.

The Corporation was allowed to unload the waste by the local people at Njelianparambu only after an undertaking to find a solution to the problem within a year.

Corporation Secretary Sreedharan Nair said a directive had been given to the Kudumbasree volunteers of the Solid Waste Management Project of the Corporation to suspend waste collection till the garbage already piled up is disposed of at Njelianparambu, in a phased manner.

"The situation is expected to improve in four to five days. A meeting of Kudumbasree members is being called in this regard," he said.

Meanwhile, solid wastes continued to pile up in households and flat complexes in the city.

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