Kerala   

Little steps for a bigger cause

In what appears to be a new initiative in social action, students from three town schools have joined hands to take up some burning civic issues that the authorities have failed to address, even after years of passive, and sometimes violent, protest by the local people.

“We can neither study nor eat properly,” said Kannan Menon, Class XI student of Pallikkoodam, at a press conference called by the students to highlight their plight. A 3.5-acre plot at Vadavathur, which falls under Vijayapuram panchayat, bordering the town, had been a nightmare for people for decades.

“Waste from 39 wards in the municipal area is now dumped here,” he said, adding that the stench from the yard is unbearable.

The local people agitated for weeks together many times, but other than shoddy quick-fix responses, no sustainable answer has emerged.

The efforts to give shape to a workable processing unit too have fallen flat.

The processing unit now in place has failed to address the issue.

“Nearly 10,000 students from five educational institutions in the area are victims of authorities’ callous attitude,” he said.

With the area fast emerging as a ‘modern’ suburb with half a dozen multi-storied apartments and another half a dozen in the pipeline, the problem of waste management is mounting.

“Sewage from one side of the Kottayam-Kumily road is directed to the compounds of Marian Junior and Pallikkoodam,” said Ashita Neenu, Class IX student of Marian Junior.

There is a strategically placed culvert opposite these schools which directs the entire sewage to their compounds. Now, the school hostellers depend on packaged water as the source of drinking water is totally contaminated.

Haven’t they taken up the issue with the authorities?

“National Highway Authority says only the culverts and storm drains are under their jurisdiction. The drainage is under municipal authority. The issue of contamination has to be handled by Pollution Control Board,” she said.

Even as the area emerges into a posh residential suburb, the arterial road that divides it is becoming more and more congested.

“Is it impossible to make the roads safe near our schools?” ask the students.

Are agitations on card? “Do you want us to stage a dharna in front of the apartments?” shots back one student.

“Then who will write the exams?” shouts another. “Our parents will not allow us” cuts in yet another.

Can they take up the agitation for a social cause as a school project? “Maybe. We don’t know,” they said.

The young minds remain confused. But something original ought to come up from these confusion.

Their problems are so acute and so immediate.

George Jacob

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