TIRUCY: The relief from pest menace for locals residing in proximity to the district’s lone Tamil Nadu Warehousing Corporation (TNWC) godown at Varaganeri appears to be short-lived as they complain of the issue has grown in magnitude after a gap of around a year to now frequently give them sleepless nights.
With the 15,000-tonne capacity godown on Thanjavur Road predominantly storing rice, locals said the pest menace there, particularly from Tribolium -- a genus of flour beetles -- spelt trouble for them too for over seven years, until the application of insecticides on the storage unit premises about a year ago.
The insect menace, however, has since the past one month spilled over from the godown to strike houses and buildings in nearby areas like Mahalakshmi Nagar, Viswas Nagar, Dhana Ratnam Nagar and AP Nagal , locals complain.
While several petitions were placed over the years with the warehouse office seeking redressal of the issue, a permanent solution was yet to be found, they said. They also mentioned having raised the issue last week only to not receive a proper reply. M Natarajan of Mahalakshmi Nagar said, "The insects enter the house every evening and crawl on our bodies and food.
They also enter into children's ears. We hence put them under mosquito nets at night. Who should be held responsible if my children suffer any problems due to this?" Mentioning the insects to have invaded his house in the hundreds over the past one week, he said, “The godown is not properly maintained.
Several of its windows are damaged." C Arunkumar of Varaganeri said, "We are unable to even open the house door after 5 pm due to the insects. It crawls into the vegetables, fridge, potable water, washed dishes and clothes, much to our chagrin. We feel like staying inside a prison." When enquired, a senior official from Tamil Nadu Warehousing Corporation at Varaganeri said efforts were on to bring the pest menace under control.
