Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
A village, that reflects the negligence of authorities
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEO20060914224550&Page=O&Title=Thiruvananthapuram&Topic=0
Friday September 15 2006 09:07 IST
<SMALL>T?PURAM: Puthiyathura, a fishing hamlet at Pulluvila near Poovar. Time: 1.30 pm. Dozens of colourful pots have been arranged around a ?water tube? and women are waiting for their turn to fetch water. Once the pots are filled, the women run back to their shelters to prepare food.
If you think this is the usual practice in this region, you are thoroughly mistaken. Water arrives only once in a blue moon. The 1000-odd families at Puthiyathura were seeing drinking water after seven days.
The women are not relieved even after getting water. They showed us the water they collected from the panchayat line. Yellow in colour. Smell it, you will puke. ?This is the water the panchayat supplies. It will be a miracle if we don?t contract any disease,? fumes Elsamma, a resident.
The coastal belt of Puthiyathura is under the grip of viral fever for the past two months. You will see at least two people down with fever in each house, thanks to the authorities. Neither the panchayat nor the Health Department has bothered to visit the area in the last few years. No fogging exercise or spraying, Puthiyathura has become a highly disease-prone region.
Why haven?t they approached the panchayat authorities? A furious Francis shot back with a bevy of questions. ?What?s the use? Why should we beg for our survival? Don?t they have any responsibility? Then why are they approaching us for votes during elections??
For the residents here, drinking water is always a burning issue. Be it summer or winter, the situation is the same. The interesting part is that they don?t have a pipe connection in the area.
It?s only a tube which is connected to some underground pipeline. When there is no water supply, they collect it from a pond which is four km from the colony.
After water, their main problem is the piled-up garbage, which has become the source of all vector-borne diseases. Now, they have found their own solution. Each household dumps the waste by digging a pit on their premises.</SMALL>
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEO20060914224550&Page=O&Title=Thiruvananthapuram&Topic=0
Friday September 15 2006 09:07 IST
<SMALL>T?PURAM: Puthiyathura, a fishing hamlet at Pulluvila near Poovar. Time: 1.30 pm. Dozens of colourful pots have been arranged around a ?water tube? and women are waiting for their turn to fetch water. Once the pots are filled, the women run back to their shelters to prepare food.
If you think this is the usual practice in this region, you are thoroughly mistaken. Water arrives only once in a blue moon. The 1000-odd families at Puthiyathura were seeing drinking water after seven days.
The women are not relieved even after getting water. They showed us the water they collected from the panchayat line. Yellow in colour. Smell it, you will puke. ?This is the water the panchayat supplies. It will be a miracle if we don?t contract any disease,? fumes Elsamma, a resident.
The coastal belt of Puthiyathura is under the grip of viral fever for the past two months. You will see at least two people down with fever in each house, thanks to the authorities. Neither the panchayat nor the Health Department has bothered to visit the area in the last few years. No fogging exercise or spraying, Puthiyathura has become a highly disease-prone region.
Why haven?t they approached the panchayat authorities? A furious Francis shot back with a bevy of questions. ?What?s the use? Why should we beg for our survival? Don?t they have any responsibility? Then why are they approaching us for votes during elections??
For the residents here, drinking water is always a burning issue. Be it summer or winter, the situation is the same. The interesting part is that they don?t have a pipe connection in the area.
It?s only a tube which is connected to some underground pipeline. When there is no water supply, they collect it from a pond which is four km from the colony.
After water, their main problem is the piled-up garbage, which has become the source of all vector-borne diseases. Now, they have found their own solution. Each household dumps the waste by digging a pit on their premises.</SMALL>