Food and Civil Supplies Minister Anoop Jacob has said that care should be taken to ensure that areas thickly populated by migrant workers do not get turned in to slums.
Talking at the review meeting of pre-monsoon preparedness at the Water Authority guesthouse at Piravom on Saturday, Mr. Jacob said that officials of Health and other departments concerned should ensure that such areas have proper garbage treatment to maintain sanitation.
He said that pre-monsoon sanitation measures should not be seen as the responsibility of the Health department alone, but other departments should also participate in the endeavour. Kudumbasree members should be deployed for propagating the message of sanitation. The Minister said that cleanliness of the environment is as important as individual sanitation.
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Drinking water
The district administration has been asked to supply drinking water in various areas in Piravom Assembly constituency. The quality of water supplied through water tankers will be closely monitored. Mr. Jacob said that the Health department and local bodies should intensify preventive measures in areas from where water-borne diseases had been reported.
District Medical Officer R. Sudhakaran said that district level pre-monsoon sanitation and preventive measures to check the outbreak of diseases will be launched on May 16. Resident's associations and local bodies will participate in the drive under the guidance of the Health department. Block-level meetings will be convened as a prelude to this.
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Community health centres in the district have been stocked with enough medicines. Canals and other water bodies will be cleaned. Special focus will be given on waste disposal in coastal areas. Inspections will be held to ensure that soda and other soft drinks are made of clean water. Ward-level committees had been formed for sanitation activities.
The District Medical Officer said that preventive drive will be undertaken in areas from where Leptospirosis had been reported. The district has been allocated Rs. 1.74 crore for pre-monsoon sanitation drive. Funds to the tune of Rs. 10,000 each have been handed over to 136 wards in village panchayats and 400 municipal wards. Besides, village panchayats were permitted to use Rs. 25,000 from their own funds for the purpose.