Dengue and pollution-control

Rising dengue deaths in particularly urban areas underscore the fact that some parts of our metropolis and towns have been reduced to breeding grounds of the dreaded disease. That is, pollution-control and clearance in these areas is proceeding at a slack and half-hearted pace despite years-long alarms that have been raised about the grave harm pollution and urban squalor could breed.

We now have it on the authority of the Medical Research Institute (MRI) that uncleared industrial waste, for instance, is a major factor in creating conditions in our urban centres that help in the proliferation of the dengue mosquito. Some of the metropolitan areas which are currently enjoying a notoriety for the accumulation of urban waste are, Panchikawatte, Maradana, Kolonnnawa, Dehiwale and Mt. Lavinia. It should be clear, given these specified areas, that disease goes hand in hand with urban sprawl and laxity or dwindling lack of capability and efficiency in pollution control and clearance.

Discarded computers and their parts, dumped photocopying machines and their parts and motor spare parts are among the chief contributory factors towards the conversion of the above urban areas into breeding grounds of the dengue mosquito. Apparently, unplanned and rapid urbanization is playing a huge role in the accumulating squalor and this in turn is triggering the breeding of mosquitoes and other vermin which have been the sworn enemies of the human. The garbage and pollution problem in Colombo city has drawn elaborate commentary and analysis over the years and we would be only engaging in a wasteful exercise by going over all of this in this commentary once again.

We do not intend to underplay the complexity of this problem of increasing squalor and pollution in some urban areas of the country. Our local government and other relevant authorities are yet to make any palpably visible progress in the quick disposal of garbage and other forms of harmful waste and it goes without saying that some gains would be made in the battle against dengue and other dreadful diseases only when an effective solution is found to the issue of garbage and squalor clearance and their efficient disposal.

Most urban dwellers have to usually wait long, painful days before their garbage is finally collected. In some areas this happens only twice or at most thrice a week. It is not very clear why this has to be so. However, garbage disposal is as problematic as garbage clearance. There are garbage dumping sites in the city which have taken on daunting, mountainous proportions and no solution has been found to the problem posed by these expanding waste sites. The garbage accumulating in these sites could be converted into manure and made use of in other beneficial ways but little or no progress seems to have been made in these directions over the decades.

If there are vested interests that gain in keeping things in this sorry and deplorable state, the time is very ripe to break the back of these groups. This should prove very easy for a state which made short work of the world’s most brutal and powerful terrorist organization. It is plain to see that considerable progress has been made in making our metropolis look pleasanter, and that too in double quick time. Therefore, we do not think that the problem of clearing and disposing of urban waste would prove particularly difficult for the same state authorities who disposed of the terrorist menace with such notable meticulous efficiency.

All this does not mean that the general citizenry should not do its part to help in alleviating the pollution menace. The authorities have over the past few months made some rather disconcerting detections of negligence in garbage clearance and in the disposal of objects that help in dengue-breeding, in private residences and in institutions, such as schools, and it is clear that sections of the public have also played a role in breeding health hazards, wittingly and otherwise.

Punitive measures need to be carried out against all those who err in this respect. The law should be enforced without fear or favour and it is up to the state to ensure that dengue detection and control personnel are sufficiently empowered against law-breakers. The diktat of these personnel must be respected and this would need to be impressed upon all those who are inclined to take the law lightly.

However, we welcome the latest set of regulations that make it obligatory on house builders, for instance, to ensure that their roofs and gutters are easily accessible to residents and others who would be compelled to take all the precautions against conditions that breed ill-health. Here too, though, the regulations would need to be enforced strongly and consistently.