POLLUTANTS IN COOVAM, A HUGE CAUSE OF CONCERN!

Accumulation Of The Toxic Wastes In Coovam Backwaters Near Central Creates Problems For Locals.

Martin F.R.

martinfr@thecentrist.net

Coovam backwaters, significant reason for the foul pungent smell across the Chennai central region.

CHENNAI CENTRAL: Toxic wastes is getting stored at a much faster pace & is remaining stagnant since the month of January after natural cleaning that happened due to Chennai floods is polluting the entire region posing a grave  threat to the health of local by passers and residents.

Industrial wastes, plastic bags, dead remnants of animals, human waste and animal waste are some of summarized mixture of the content that we are able to visibly peep into the unholy overflow of coovam backwaters.

Stagnant Water as its not clean lake anymore holds much more significance compared to just the ingredients of the harmful content as its covering the entire region to be a malaria & dengue prone area as mosquitoes breeding has been intensive here along with the massive harmful smell its accompanying with it.

The whole central area constitutes public spaces which includes hospitals, schools, hotels, central railways station and important govt offices along with massive inflow & outflow of citizens in the main hub of the city. Such is the health hazard coverage that we are witnessing here about that also at a place of constant hustling and bustling in such a posh area.

But, the negligence of local administration is worth watching nothing less than realistic reality show in the likes of big boss where blame game is going on for a long time. It just shows & proves the state of disarray the state authorities are in such that a state’s political & financial capital’s main area is in such a grave & shameful situation. Symptoms of frothing are quite visible although it’s just at a nascent stage but the possibility is high in the lines of Bangalore frothing problem that we know about. Formations of bubbles are due to excessive formulation of contaminated chemical content is threatening signal for to do something about this issue.

The gross mismanagement that has happened especially in the Chennai          central is well known as the infrastructural problems is taking a toll on the citizen’s basic needs ,be it health or anything else that it is been taken for granted. Electrocution also seems to be another threat for the thousands who cross over the bridge and bylanes on the sideline of the coovam backwater area.

     
     Daily by passers risking their health by commuting through local bridge surpassing the   hazardous pollution nearby.                                                                                                        

Chennai Metropolitan Authority Official, Mr. M Muruguvel states that ‘’The region is filled with several ground level problems that the corporation acknowledges but ,we are also working towards all possible solutions towards it and also, we have allotted already half a dozen of private garbage disposal companies in the region, they are doing their work ,but due to several inconvenience  caused due to ongoing development projects, the pace of work is slow and they are not able to carry forward it in a speedy way.

 The bureaucratic hassles are also prevailing as at every step these companies have to take permission from concerned authorities who are carrying out the development work in the region. The corporation is helping them in getting permissions & tenders passed which are under the control of state authorities ,but for others like that CMRA which is under Central body is causing the delay”.

          The issue of coovam backwaters also seems to be connected with series of coovam caused problems across the city which needs environment ministry level meetings as even if the companies dispose of the waste the possibility of relapse of the same situation shall be persisting on long term anyway.

RG Government General Hospital Sanitation Dept. Employee Mr.K.Kandaswamy states, “We have been complaining about this matter for too long but nothing seems to be happening. Mosquitoes breeding is a bigger matter for us as we are here treating patients for both malaria and dengue at a much larger base level and we have to ensure that the safety of patients is maintained at an optimum and also the pulmonary medicine Dept. treating patients with various lung ailment too complaint about the foul pungent smell they experiencing which troubling them. But we cannot do anything about it as the officials seem to be deaf & our hands are chained other works of hospital also”.

Jagannath Pillai, a daily commuter  complains of toxic smell and pathetic state of affairs of this area   and says “I have to use triple layer mask when I do come for morning walk, as smoke is a problem we know, but this foul smell is another issue we public have to bear with now’’.

Through local sources, it seems the real-estate projects are also hit as realtors find it hard to promote their properties amid such a pathetic environment being promulgated for such a long period of time.

Blame Game is still on, but it’s the local residents & daily by passers who are taking risk with their life’s making themselves prone to diseases & also thereby compromising with utter basic quality of life that they deserve. Authorities must take greater cognizance of this issue and solve the matter with greater jurisprudence available eat their disposal before it takes an uglier, gruel some form.