A few days after ceaseless rain lashed the regions in Thane and stranded some localities, the risk of infectious diseases stares large at the residents. With a massive dumping ground right in front of the railways station at Vithalwadi and a sewer flowing in the rear, it seems like an open invitation to the various diseases, which increases manifold during monsoon. Khadegolwadi, which saw knee- deep waters on Friday could not unclog, though the water receded by a few centimetres.
As it is a fully grown residential area, people spent their entire day cleaning their homes. Chocked drains, sewers and dumping grounds caused problems in the area. “ Each time it rains, garbage along with diseases come to our house,” said Aarti Bhagwat, a resident. Her neighbour Preeti Pandey added,” We all know what sewers and dumping grounds in the vicinity means, malaria, dengue and other water borne diseases.”
It may be noted that the Thane Municipal Corporation suspended an officer and recommended departmental enquiry against the other finding them a prima facia guilty of the problem. Complaining over that, another resident Sarita Kolhapure said,” suspending officials is of no use to us, it does not solve our problem. These past few days were pathetic for us, what will happen if such rain continues for next couple of months. ” Similar problems persisted in different localities around the dumping site.
“ Garbage that flew with the rain got scattered all around as the potholed road was filled with dirty water,” said Karishma Tiwari, a housewife. City-based doctors warned against the risk of diseases in the rainy season. “ People with a weak immune system fall prey to microbes that roam freely in the air during monsoon,” said Dr Kishor Gandecha. He added that garbage heaps rot more than usual in rains, which catalyses growth of disease causing virus and bacteria.
” The best way to avoid disease is to wash hands with soap and drink boiled water,” he said. Suggesting other ways to keep diseases at bay, the doctors said, ” People should avoid intake of stale or cutfood, don’t let water stagnate inside or near the homes and stay away from public places if one is suffering with viral fever of disease. They also enumerated signs of disease which include body ache, vomiting, pain in abdomen and loose motions are the first signs of the monsoon maladies. But, there are a number of measures that people can resort to”.
