Armed with a bag of dead flies, the residents of localities around the Coimbatore Corporation’s dump yard in Vellalore thronged the Collectorate on Monday to petition the district administration to shift the yard from there. The ‘Kurichi-Vellalore Pollution Prevention Action Committee’ said that the residents of the area had been suffering for the last 11 years because of the Corporation dumping garbage in Vellalore. The District Collector, M. Karunagaran, ought to be aware of the problem as he had been a Deputy Commissioner at the Coimbatore Corporation. The residents said that in the last few months unbearable stench from the yard had been troubling them. They were unable to keep doors and windows open fearing fly invasion. There was not one meal they have had in the last few months without flies in their midst. The students of the area faced a similar problem while having lunch at schools.
The impact of the fly menace was that the residents often fell sick. Many residents had suffered diarrhoea, vomiting, and breathing problems.
R. Shanthi, a resident of Sriram Nagar, said that the residents were unable to spend even a few minutes outside their houses. Inside houses, it was difficult for them to have food, as flies would swarm the food-filled utensils and plate. T. Panchatcharam, a resident of Sriram Nagar, said that the groundwater in the area was so polluted. It carried a odour. In short, the water was unfit for consumption to human beings, and animals. The residents had earlier petitioned the Mayor S.M. Velusamy, Corporation Commissioner G. Latha, and Deputy Commissioner S. Sivarasu, to no avail. They had even approached the Tamil Nadu Pollution Con trol Board. But the result had been the same.
