The Coimbatore Corporation is working towards creating a diseases-free city, but the public also will have to play a significant role in achieving this objective, Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra said on Wednesday after the Corporation had organised a rally to mark the World Health Day.
Through an earlier study of the situation in the city, the Corporation had identified choked drains, accumulating garbage and mosquito breeding as areas of concern.
The main focus was on streamlining and intensifying the regular work such as cleaning choked drains, mosquito control and the removal of garbage. The Corporation planned garbage removal at night also in the bus stands.
“We have appointed 400 contract workers to clean the storm water drains. We have not received complaints of choked drains for the last three months, from the people in the areas where these workers have been deployed,” the Commissioner said. People should also desist from dumping garbage in the drains. “Our anti-plastics drive aims to check this problem,” the Commissioner said.
The Corporation was also planning 24 x7 garbage removal throughout the day. But, it was in need of more sanitary workers. For instance, five to eight conservancy workers must be available at any point of time in each of the five bus stands in the city. Conservancy should be carried out in three shifts a day to keep the bus terminals clean.
Now, the Corporation would have to outsource workers for the 24x7 conservancy work as it could not insist on the permanent workers in the civic body to work on Sundays.
Garbage was not removed on Sundays and workers removed it only for half a day on other holidays. Therefore, outsourcing would be an option to meet the requirement of additional workers to carry out the round-the-clock garbage removal programme.
As for the anti-mosquito drive, the Commissioner said constant surveillance would be carried out in areas identified for it.
Intensifying fogging and spraying of larvicide were the two main components of the drive.
“We need total co-operation from the public in this drive also. They should not eliminate breeding space such as unsafe storage of fresh water in open containers or stagnation of rain water in discarded coconut shells and other items,” the Commissioner said.
Mr. Mishra said the co-operation from the public was not to the desired level now, especially when the Corporation's workers turned up at their homes for fogging or spraying the larvicide.
