The city Corporation has prepared a detailed action plan for the monsoon cleaning and vector disease control activities to be taken up next week.
In a council meeting on Tuesday, health standing committee chairperson Jameela Sreedharan presented the plan, following which councillors from various wards raised the issues they have been facing at the local level.
Mayor Arya Rajendran said in the past five months, there were 52 cases of dengue fever, 15 leptospirosis cases, 46 cases of chikungunya and 5 cases of malaria in the city. Three deaths were reported.
The identified dengue hotspots are Medical College, Kowdiar, Pallithura, Manacaud, Vattiyurkavu, Palayam, Pattom and Pallithura, while leptospirosis cases have been noticed in Beemapally, Vallakadavu, Nettayam and Valiyavila. As per the mosquito index prepared by the Corporation, the number of mosquitoes are high in Jagathy, Valiyavila, Kamaleswaram, Pettah, Pattom, Kalippankulam and Nedumcaud.
As per the action plan, councillors will prepare ward-level action plans on Wednesday in discussion with the local sanitation committees, residents' association representatives, rapid response team members, Kudumbashree and NCC volunteers. Each ward has to be divided into 15 to 60 clusters and waste from each of the clusters segregated. The biodegradable waste has to be handed over to the closest aerobic bin and non-biodegradable waste to the material collection facility. The public areas from which waste dumps are removed have to be beautified by planting saplings as part of World Environment Day on June 5.
The Corporation has appealed to the residents to observe a dry day on June 6. Volunteers will be assigned for 30-50 households to carry out source destruction activities to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes. The Corporation has announced a cash prize of ₹25,000 for the ward which organises the most effective activities. This amount can be used for more sanitation activities. Notices will be served to owners of vacant plots to take up cleaning activities.
On June 7, the health wing will carry out checks in scrap shops, tyre repairing shops and other commercial establishments in each health circle as part of source destruction activities. Fogging and spraying activities will be carried out in each of the wards from June 5 to 10. The non-biodegradable waste now stored in the 456 mini-material collection facilities and five resource recovery facilities will be handed over to various agencies.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillor M.R.Gopan said that the Corporation was successful to an extent in the pre-monsoon cleaning activities. However, some of the drains in PWD roads have remained closed due to silt and waste deposits, causing spread of dengue in some areas. He also highlighted the paucity of funds at the ward-level for the cleanup activities.
BJP councillor Girikumar said that not enough cleaning equipment is available. The sanitation workers also do not have proper boots to protect themselves, which could lead to them catching diseases. More workers are also required, he said. UDF councillor Syamkumar of Kuravankonam said that plastic collection has not been happening for quite some time.
In her reply, the Mayor said that the health standing committee chairperson will be asked to immediately carry out a study on the lack of equipment and workers in the wards and submit a report to her, based on which necessary action will be taken. She said that funds of ₹1,00,000 have been sanctioned to wards, while the remaining ₹35,000 will also be released soon.
