Tuberculosis care needs more attention
Even as the Tuberculosis (TB) cases are on rise, the municipal administration that runs a TB hospital appears to be riddled with other challenges, making it tough for the hospital to arrest the spread of the disease or check the number of patients dropping out of DOTS treatment. Last week, one such challenge came to fore when the issue of three suspended nurses came up for discussion during the general body meeting. While the ruling Shiv Sena stood by the nurses, the opposition raised issue over the state of affairs at the hospital. Amid the ruckus, a corporator even brought a child patient to the municipal house during the discussion. An officer commented that Mumbai would soon become the TB capital if the certain people “continue to rule the city”.
Humane touch of Mumbai
An IT sector employee in Mumbai shared a positive experience she went through. Mantasha Sheikh thanked Prashant Mayekar and Raj Dinkar, the driver and conductor of a city bus she had taken, for waiting with her over 10 minutes to ensure that she got an auto. Her bus stop is in a lonely area of Aarey colony and she got off the bus at 1:30AM. Both Mayekar and Dinkar then waited with her till she got an auto. “In Mumbai’s hasty lifestyle such moments of humanity provide the ray of hope. I love you Mumbai for this...” Mantasha tweeted.
Poor state of wells
The state of the wells in the city and suburbs came to the fore last week after two women and a child died in a accident in Ville Parle. The accident has set off a blame game among authorities. According to records, there are 4,661 wells in the city and suburbs and most of them have potable water. The rules for conservation of water sources state that district collectors are responsible for their maintenance.
However, the Mumbai district collector has cited a paucity of human resources and is looking to the BMC to undertake maintenance operations. However, BMC officials say their work with regard to wells is only to ensure that the sites do not become breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
Funds sanctioned for cleaning sea beach
Mumbai’s coastline will become a new attraction for tourists, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) announced last week, while clearing a proposal for spending J11.21 crore for cleaning up the Dadar-Mahim beach. Under the new proposal, the contractors would be paid J65,500 per day during monsoon and J35,500 per day during rest of the year for maintaining cleanliness at the beach.
Ironically, the BMC has completely failed to regulate the numerous foodstalls on most of the beaches in the city, which is deemed to be one of the root causes of dirty beaches. Also, while the citizen’’s initiative at Varsova had removed over 50 tonnes of dirt, the BMC said it expects the contractors to remove 57 tonnes of dirt from the beach every year.