School toilet construction slows down across the country compared to last year

The latest edition of the Swachhta Status Report brought out by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) has revealed that the 8,240 school toilets constructed in 2015-16 is considerably less compared to the 25,264 toilets constructed in 2014-15. However, the construction of individual household latrines has shown a sharp increase of close to 70% compared to last year’s figures. The survey also reveals that only 13% of all villages have community toilets while the figure stands at 42% in urban areas.  

 

The Southern Railways has embarked on a special mission to audit the condition of latrines across all stations under its jurisdiction. Persons from health and engineering departments have been deployed to inspect the toilets which commenced on April 11. The audit will go on till April 20 in all six divisions falling under the Southern Railways. All stations on the Chennai suburban and the MRTS lines have also been included. Feedback from commuters will also be included in the report. 

 

An action plan prepared by Namma Bengaluru Foundation has indicated that it is possible to bring back Bengaluru’s frothing Bellandur Lake back to life in three years’ time by employing sound engineering solutions. The Foundation proposes to dewater the entire lake for de-weeding and silt removal along with the construction of sewage flow diversion channels to help treat the run-off accordingly. Water in the Bellandur Lake has been found to be heavily polluted with very low levels of dissolved oxygen. 

 

With summer temperatures soaring over 40 degree Celsius in Hyderabad, stagnant waters of the Hussainsagar have started emitting highly toxic Hydrogen Sulphide gas due to heightened levels of pollution. With increased pollution, the oxygen content of the water decreases, fuelling an increase in the foul smelling Hydrogen Sulphide gas. The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority had invested close to Rs 370 crore to clean up the lake and its catchment areas a few years back, but the pollution problem continues to persist. 

 

Kitchen waste from households within the Greater Chennai Corporation’s jurisdiction may soon form the raw material to produce manure to be used as fertilizers in corporation parks across the city. The city corporation is planning on creating ‘zero-waste districts’ in the north, central and southern regions where garbage treatment facilities will come up to treat waste that have been segregated at source. This could be a big challenge as none of the measures taken by the Corporation to segregate waste at the household level has worked so far. 

 

April 15 witnessed the closing of Agra’ only bio-medical waste disposal plant that has treated waste emanating from hospitals across Agra, Firozabad, Mathura and Hathra districts for ten years now. The city produces close to 3,500 kgs of potentially infectious, hazardous waste a day. Back in November 2015, plant operators presented a notice to the administration and the Pollution Control Board about its closure. However, no alternative arrangements have been put in place yet.