With Dengue Cases Continuing, No Action from Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) on Street Vendors Piling Up Tender Coconut Shells a breeding place for Mosquitoes spreading Dengue/Malaria
Mangaluru: In the wake of the rapid spread of dengue cases in many parts of Mangaluru City, the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) decided to rope in expert doctors, for effective surveillance through the health section of the urban local body and health department. District vector-borne disease control programme officer Dr Naveenchandra Kulal said that out of 393 cases reported in Dakshina Kannada district between January and October, 277 were from the MCC limits.
“The city witnessed a rapid increase in the number of dengue cases between September 15 to October 15. More than 150 dengue cases were reported in the city in one month. More cases of dengue were reported in Kankanady, Falnir, Jeppu, Bunder, Valencia, Attavar and other areas. However, people have been ignoring the cautions of the health department and urban local bodies with regard to measures against mosquito breeding. Stagnant water can be seen in front of houses, especially on plastic trays under flowerpots where mosquito breeding takes place,” he said, adding that more awareness is needed to control the spread of dengue.
Apart from trying to put the 50% blame on people, he never mentioned how clean the City was kept when it came to the scattered garbage, open-dirty drainage flowing across the city, piles of used tender coconut shells near street vendors selling them, overflowing manholes etc. It should be noted that the DK district recorded 1,539 dengue cases in 2019 and 388 cases in 2022. However, the number of dengue cases reported here was less compared to Bengaluru, Mysuru and Udupi. Since the district continues to receive rain now and then, there are possibilities of an increase in dengue cases, and with all the garbage etc mentioned above, what have health inspectors of MCC been doing, or waiting for more dengue cases to rise again?
Even though the issue of the increase in dengue cases was also discussed in the recent November meeting of the MCC council chaired by Mayor Sudheer Shetty Kannur. Chief whip of the council Premanand Shetty and corporator Shashidhar Hegde had urged the council to form a committee, involving expert doctors to monitor the situation and take measures to prevent the spread of the disease. The mayor said that a monitoring committee involving doctors, health officials and educational institutions will be formed to take up preventive measures- but it looks like fake assurance, as we are not seeing any MCC officials/Health Inspectors on the street, rather than sitting in the comfort zone of their office AC Cabin. Bah humbug!
Just look at the tender coconut sellers doing business by the roadside, years ago there were only a few tender coconut sellers in the City, unlike now, where you can see them at every nook and corner of the City, and the tender coconut waste has been hauled for FREE by the pourakarmikas of Antony Waste Handling Cell (AWHC). And since Mangaluru city corporation has to pay AWHC by the weight, the weight of all these tender coconut shells adds a huge amount, while already MCC owes AWHC in huge back payments in crores. nearly Rs 70-80 crores. And continuing to allow the tender coconuts waste to be hauled, will add more to pending payment, after all these vendors are not paying a rupee, only making rupees.
Apart from piles of Tender Coconut shell waste which is a Breeding Place for Mosquitoes spreading Malaria/Dengue, are our district authorities from the DK Deputy Commissioner, MCC Commissioner, MCC Mayor, and other MCC Health Officers aware of the fact that these diseases are also spread by open drainage that has been running through the City for decades, and now the menace of these coconut shells and other garbage discarded mainly by the street vendors, is an added health hazard While these officials tell people to be careful in not trashing the City, they are doing nothing on their part- probably waiting for health cases to come up. The symptoms of malaria are high temperature, headache, muscle pain, vomiting and diarrhoea. There is no immediate cure for dengue.
When was the last time, the DHO, and other City health officials went around the City to see the overflowing drainage/manholes, openly flowing sewage drainage etc- I bet not, and for their information, have they checked on the piles of tender coconut shells which are the main reason for mosquito breeding in spreading these diseases. So it would be nice if the DHO and the health officers at MCC took the necessary action to see that the mess of tender coconut shell waste is cleared before the said diseases are spread.
With summer comes the trend of drinking tender coconut water, which is profitable for vendors but results in discarded coconut shells littering street corners. People even enjoy tender coconuts during monsoon for health benefits. Even as citizens complain about coconut shells piling up in many areas, MCC workers and waste collectors refuse to clear them due to the high volume, and vendors dump them in vacant areas and the city outskirts. And it is a herculean task of pourakarmikas to haul it.
Under the tenure of former MCC Commissioner Akshay Sridhar, the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) decided to collect Solid Waste Management Cess (SWM cess) from all the tender coconut sellers in the city. Tender coconut sellers in the city had to pay the SWM cess and obtain a temporary trade licence from the MCC, to continue their business in the city, according to an order issued by then MCC commissioner Akshay Sridhar. “All tender coconut sellers, who are conducting business on push carts by the side of the road in the city, will have to pay SWM cess as per the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016 and MCC SWM and Sanitation Bylaws 2019. The solid waste from those traders will be collected only after they pay the SWM cess, and obtain a temporary trade licence for six months from the MCC,” the order stated.
Accordingly, the commissioner said that traders who sell tender coconuts on push carts will have to pay Rs 2,080 as SWM cess, and Rs 200 for a temporary trade licence. But on second thought, I am very positive this rule has not been materialized and these tender coconut sellers are enjoying their business and producing more waste for Free. What a Bhagya! While the figures available from the Health Department do not indicate large clusters of dengue cases, the steady and spread-out occurrence reveals a let-up in the efforts to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes that transmit the dengue-causing virus. Rainwater in discarded tender coconut shells is an ideal breeding space for mosquitoes.
Yes, coconut shells and other waste materials that may cause stagnation of rainwater lead to the spread of various diseases, but nothing has been done by the officials, other than arranging meetings/press meets, all for a publicity stunt. No doubt that all these orders in the past we have seen being passed, and very soon they are ignored, and business continues illegally as always by the Street Vendors/Tender Coconut sellers. And that’s Our Smart City!