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Public Health / Sanitation

Civic body gears up for reclamation of dumping yard through biomining

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The Hindu    17.08.2017  

Civic body gears up for reclamation of dumping yard through biomining

Vijayawada Municipal Corporation invites proposals to remediate the site

To end the woes of thousands of people living in the residential colonies around the vast municipal solid waste (MSW) dump yard in Ajith Singh Nagar, the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation is finally gearing up to transform the place into a public park.

The site adjoining the colonies of Ajith Singh Nagar, Santhi Nagar and Vambey Colony has become a hindrance to the local development besides troubling dwellers in various ways since 2007. It also has an abandoned power generation plant that failed to sustain.

The municipal corporation has recently called on national level companies to come up with proposals to remediate the site through the bio-mining process under design, build and operate model.

The Municipal Commissioner in 2016 announced that the dumping yard site would be turned into a park as per the instructions of the CM and with the cooperation of the Central government.

The VMC took up the project as part of the vision of the Central and the State governments for Swachh cities intending to take up modern and scientific methods of solid waste management and disposal. In two years, the VMC wants to excavate all the unprocessed solid waste using advanced equipment and retrieve compostable and recyclable material by segregating, sorting, storing and finally selling it.

The civic body expects at least 90% reclamation of the site from which generation of reusable and recoverable material is possible.

A pre-bid meeting will be held on Wednesday (Aug 16) to receive queries regarding the project.

The VMC will stop receiving the proposals on August 30 and open them on September 1.

 

Civic body plans steps to stop fleecing of customers

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The Hindu        10.08.2017  

Civic body plans steps to stop fleecing of customers

Corporation health wing to conduct inspections at malls

The health wing of the Kochi Corporation, in association with the Legal Metrology Department, will conduct inspections at malls and shopping complexes to find out if customers are charged over and above the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) for packaged food products.

The decision of the civic body to crack down on traders who fleece customers was announced by Mayor Soumini Jain on Wednesday.

“After the joint inspections, the civic body will follow them up,” she said. Deputy Mayor T.J. Vinod and councillors V.P. Chandran and Antony Painuthara said cinema hall owners had been exploiting customers.

Mr. Vinod pointed out that some theatre managements had indiscriminately hiked ticket rates after the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST).

“Post-GST, the civic bodies have no role in controlling pricing, as taxes are paid online, and tickets need not be stamped by them. This has resulted in huge financial loss on account of entertainment tax. Annually, the Kochi Corporation loses around Rs. 14 crore. It should be compensated,” Mr. Vinod said.

Ms. Jain said the issue would be brought to the notice of the State government.

 

Over 60,000 house visits to check mosquito-breeding sites

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The Hindu       20.07.2017   

Over 60,000 house visits to check mosquito-breeding sites

Real picture:The brackish waters of the Poisar river make for an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes.Rajendra GawankarRajendra Gawankar  

BMC issued 8,744 notices, collected Rs. 20,04,600 in fines

Days after Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) issued a notice to NGO Praja Foundation for alleged misinterpretation of facts in its latest health report, which claimed that dengue cases have seen a massive rise of 265% in Mumbai in the last five years, the civic body on Wednesday released information on the action it had taken to check the spread of dengue.

The BMC said that the Public Health Department had conducted inspections to check breeding places for the disease spreading mosquitoes from January 1 to July 15, this year. As per the report, the BMC made 62,43,597 house visits during these past six months and issued 8,744 notices to owners of premises with unprotected water tanks, wells, fountains and so on. It collected Rs. 20,04,600 in fines from notices issued for not adhering to safety standards.

“There were 7,586 places where the larva of Aedes Agypti, also known as the yellow fever mosquito, one that can spread dengue fever, chikungunya, Zika fever, Mayaro and yellow fever viruses. In 2,674 places, the BMC team found larvae of the malaria causing Anopheles mosquitoes. These breeding sites have now been eliminated,” Dr. Rajan Naringrekar, pesticide officer of the BMC, said.

The BMC also appealed to the citizens of Mumbai to destroy all useless scrap material like tyres, thermocol, coconut remains and plastic as water is stored in them and they become breeding grounds for infectious mosquitoes.

It takes eight days for the larva to turn into mosquitoes, hence the BMC has said that water should not be stored for more than seven days in utensils or other storage places and people should ensure that water tanks are cleaned every week.

On July 13, deputy municipal commissioner (public health), Sunil Dhamne and executive health officer, BMC, Dr. Padmaja Keskar had issued a notice to NGO Praja Foundation for its report ‘State of Health of Mumbai,’ saying that the same ‘misinterpreted’ facts and was ‘misleading’ and was an attempt to malign the image of the civic body. The NGO, a watchdog of civic affairs, had in its report released on July 12, claimed that dengue cases have spiralled from 4,867 in 2012-13 to 17,771 in 2016-17.

In the notice issued on Friday, the BMC said, “It appears from the report that the whole aim of the exercise has been to malign the public body and mislead the citizens at large.” The BMC threatened action against the NGO if a public clarification is not issued by them. “It seems that you have done random collection of data from health facilities and added it, making it vague,” it stated.

 


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