Madurai Mayor Indrani Pon Vasanth inspecting the mass cleaning campaign at Vaigai riverbank in Madurai on Saturday.
Flagging off a mass cleaning campaign on Vaigai riverbank near A.V. Bridge here on Saturday, Mayor Indrani Pon Vasanth said the waterways would be kept free from encroachments.
The Corporation of Madurai had identified pockets along the riverbank, which affected free water flow due to dumping of debris and other wastes. Panayur channel in Ismailpuram 11th Street was desilted as part of the mass cleaning programme. Debris and garbage, including empty liquor bottles and used sanitary napkins, were removed from the waterways near Kalpalam, Kuruvikaran Salai and other areas.
Assistant City Health Officer Abishek said they had deployed 60 conservancy workers, five robot machines, tractors, tipper lorry, excavators and sand removing machines in ward 49 under zone 4. A pledge was taken on the occasion to keep the city clean.
Speaking to The HinduMs. Indrani Pon Vasanth said the Corporation had assessed the consequences of the recent rains and was fully geared up to face the eventualities such as spread of dengue.
She said 15 persons were diagnosed with dengue and were being treated. “They are under constant observation and things are in control,” she said, adding 89 cases of dengue were reported during May-August 2023, while it was only 15 cases now. She attributed it to the proactive measures taken by the civic authorities.
The Mayor said the public should ensure that there was no waterlogging in their locality. Things like cycle tyres/tubes, coconut shells and plastic wastes should not be kept in the open as they might allow stagnation of rainwater, which caused dengue, she said.
The Corporation had deployed 530 Domestic Mosquito Breeding Checkers (DBCs) to keep surveillance on the wards, where the residents had complaints of fever and other ailments. Fogging was going on across all the 100 wards of the city. All overhead tanks were chlorinated by the engineering team periodically.
The Mayor also said roads in many areas, which had been damaged in the last week’s rain, were being repaired on a war footing. Public were welcome to send in pictures/videos to the WhatsApp number of the Corporation with ward number/street name, etc. for prompt action, she added.
