Date:05/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/05/stories/2008120559410300.htm

Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi

Sewage let out into empty plots

S. Ganesan

Residents worried over health hazard posed by callous action of corporation staff

— Photo: R. Ashok

Foul storage: Sewage from the underground drainage that has been let into open plots at Aravindar Street in Kumaran Nagar in Tiruchi on Thursday.

TIRUCHI: A crass act of pumping out sewage from the underground drainage system into open space by the Tiruchi Corporation has left a section of residents in Kumaran Nagar fretting and fuming.

On Wednesday evening, residents of the 12th, 14th and adjoining cross roads in Kumaran Nagar were shocked to find sewage from a manhole of the underground sewer system being pumped out and let out into open plots in the region.

The corporation employees were apparently acting on a complaint from one of the residents in the 14th Cross that sewage from the system was flowing in the reverse direction into his house.

The sewage was let out into empty plots in the colony where the rain water was already stagnating.

Stench

A foul stench pervades the entire area now. And more importantly, residents are worried over the health hazard posed by the callous action. S. Pushpavanam, Secretary, Consumer Protection Council, Tamil Nadu, and a resident of the colony, said that the corporation staff arrived at the scene at around 3.30 p.m. on Wednesday evening and opened the manhole lid of UGD to pump out the sewage before anybody could realise what was happening.

The water in empty plots, which are contiguous, has turned brackish. Even inhaling the odour could be dangerous for the residents. The corporation would be solely responsible if an epidemic breaks out in the area, he observes.

The corporation could have either sucked out the sewage at the pumping station or taken it out through sullage tanker lorries. Residents fear that the groundwater could be polluted, affecting their wells and bore-wells.

“The corporation should immediately remove the polluted water safely,” he said in a representation to the authorities.

The pollution caused should be neutralised by spraying effective anti-dotes in the area, he demanded and insisted that such a practice should never be allowed to happen anywhere.

Enquiries with the corporation officials revealed that they had resorted to the action to prevent reverse flow of the sewage into a household. Though the pumping station of the underground sewer system was being operated round-the-clock the water flow was so heavy ever since last week’s rain. Steps were being taken to remove the stagnant water in the area, they said.