Assailing what they termed “apathy” on the part of the Tiruchirapalli City Corporation authorities in dealing with recurring fire incidents at the Ariyamangalam garbage dump, a group of BJP party men, led by its district unit president P. Parthiban, staged a demonstration in front of the zonal office of the local body on Wednesday morning. About 20 BJP members, led by Mr. Parthiban, demanded that the corporation make arrangements for conduct of medical camps on a large scale to treat all the residents affected by respiratory problems caused by intense suffocation in the three surrounding wards and provide them with masks. The demonstrators wanted the corporation to erect watch towers and install cameras suspecting the frequent fires to be the handiwork of miscreants.
Officials reportedly agreed to increase the reach of medical camps, and explained to the demonstrators efforts being made for finding a long-term solution to the problem by involving international experts.
Meanwhile, residents of the surrounding localities, who were unable to tolerate the suffering anymore, started vacating their homes and moved to the houses of their friends and relatives elsewhere in the city. According to them, though there was a threat of burglary in their homes, they had no option than to move out since the intensity of suffocation was more this time.
