VILLUPURAM: Enduring over two days of continuous rainfall and power cut, the residents of Villupuram municipality were additionally forced to fear the outbreak of infectious diseases because of unhygienic conditions of the streets.
Almost every street in all 42 wards of the municipality has an empty space that has turned into a dumpyard and breeding ground for pigs, and stray dogs, that remained uncleared despite multiple attempts by residents raising the issue.
Houses in residential areas of Pandian nagar, Gowtham nagar, Vazhudareddy, Vandimedu, Ka kuppam, Sudhakar nagar, GRP street, Anna nagar and Xavier colony were inundated with knee deep waters. But what irked the residents of Vazhudareddy more than the rains was how their neighbours, who mostly work as conservancy workers are treated at disaster hours.
Speaking to TNIE, a 50-years-old resident of Vazhudareddy said, “It is miserable and unfair to see conservancy workers from our area, who are employed for contractual labour with minimum wages, are made to work like a permanent worker. Even worse is the situation when these workers barely use any safety gears to clean.
They are not even provided with a jerkin, instead a fragile raincoat is all that they are provided with. We demand the district administration and state government to take notice of this issue and redress this, prioritising the dignity of workers.” “Every year when rain hits our district, our areas suffer the worst kind of damage.
We had to walk several years to the collector’s office asking for public toilets, and a system in force to keep it maintained. But it all falls on deaf ears and we are left to live amidst sewage lakes and improper living conditions,” said N Hemalatha, a resident of Nandanar street in GRP street.
Speaking about the lack of municipality administration to ensure hygiene, K Muthu (33), a resident of Vandimedu said, “Several petitions were provided to the municipality to clear dumpyards in each street, but no action was taken. Even the roads to this area are filled with potholes that are barely repaired.
Only temporary fillings are done instead of resolving it permanently. The public, too, behave irresponsibly by dumping the domestic waste and weirdly even dead dogs, in any empty plot found in the streets despite municipal workers going for doorstep collection of waste. The waste accumulation eventually makes home for snakes, rats and pigs that breed on the dump. We urge the municipality to take strict actions in keeping the wards clean and hygienic.”