Several lakhs of moths invading the houses within a radius of one km radius from the Tamil Nadu Warehousing Corporation’s godown in Perumalpuram everyday, where a few thousand tonnes of rice has been stored, are making the lives of a few thousand residents miserable, especially after dusk.
With these biting insects moving around everywhere, the people living within this ‘danger zone’ have lost sleep and food for the past few months.
The Tamil Nadu Warehousing Corporation, which constructed its godown at Perumalpuram on 4.50 acres of land 30 years ago for storing food grains, has now stashed away a few thousand tonnes of rice, mostly raw rice.
While about 30 per cent of this food grain stocked here belongs to Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation, the rest has been stockpiled by private agencies, which pay the rent to Tamil Nadu Warehousing Corporation.
“Since extra sweetness in the raw rice facilitates the rapid growth and breeding of moths, pesticides or fumigation used in the godowns has become ineffective and hence, the problem,” said a lower level employee of Tamil Nadu Warehousing Corporation.
After being dormant during the day, the moths become active after 5 p.m. and invade the houses on being attracted to the lights. Though the residents living within one km radius from the godown have converted their houses into airtight chambers, the moths still manage to enter them to make life miserable for the residents.
No response
“We can’t eat properly as the moths fall into the plate all of a sudden. Our repeated appeals to the officials have not evoked any response,” said S. Nellaiyappan, a businessman.
His neighbour N. Daniel, a doctor, has asked his wife with four-month-old baby boy to stay in her mother’s house at Nagercoil until the problem is sorted out.
“ The moths invading our houses from the nearby rice godown physically and mentally harass us a lot for the past several years,” said Dr. Daniel.
When contacted over the phone, the manager of the godown said, “We’re doing our best to control this menace. Unfortunately, the problem continues.”
What else do you want me to do,” he asked.
To block trucks
Condemning official apathy, councillor of ward 17 of Tirunelveli Corporation Joseph, along with party cadres and public, has decided to block the movement of trucks with rice bags to the godown.
“Our genuine demand of shifting this godown from the residential area should be accepted. Or else, the people’s struggle will be intensified,” he warned.
