It took campaigns by various television channels, multiple reports by newspapers and a sit-in by a legislator to ensure that dog bite victims were given treatment at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital and the General Hospital. The anti-rabies vaccine and serum were reportedly being given only to people with BPL cards.
With the Health Minister intervening and stating that there was no such government decision and that the vaccine should be given to all people, that issue seems to have been settled for the time being. However, what remains to be addressed is the root cause of the controversy. Stray dogs, several of them rabid now, still roam around freely in the city. It was only last week that at least six persons were chased and bitten by stray dogs, not in any narrow colony lane, but right in front of the Thiruvananthapuram Airport.
A flurry of campaigns, mostly focusing on sterilisation of stray dogs, was launched a few months back by various agencies, including the Corporation. What happened to these campaigns and in what way were they effective, and whether they were the only solution to this menace, remains a question.
Till not so long ago, the ‘paanwala’ was as ubiquitous in the capital city as his local version ‘murukkan kada.’
But, those days, say paanwalas, may never come back. Actually it is sheer pluck which keeps them going, most of whom are from Bihar. Day after day they open shop wishing that the day’s business would be more than just the occasional ‘saadapaan.’. The paanwalas agree that it is the rising awareness of cancer and its proven links to using paan and allied products that has delivered a body blow to their trade.
That said, it is not as though there are no customers. These wayside shops still cater to a population of paan lovers who have their preferred paan leaf and blend of tobacco. Such aficionados are also very particular about who they get their paan from; they hold that the way each paanwala prepares paan is different from the technique employed by another.
What with a diminishing clientele, many resourceful paanwalas also double up as micro-finance institutions lending small amounts of money locally.
(Reporting by Dennis Marcus Mathew and
G. Mahadevan)
