The menace has just gone worse

The menace has just gone worse
The Times of India

Bangalore: Mosquitoes and the unhygienic conditions that forced IT czar Azim Premji to relocate from Kempampura to Sarjapura Road have just worsened three years after he moved on to a new address.

Speaking to The Times of India, former chairman of Bellandur panchayat K Jagannath s a i d : “Two-and-a-half years ago, Azim Premji had written a letter to the then CM S M Krishna about raw sewage flowing into the Bellandur lake, about the mosquito menace and the pungent smell.’’

Krishna had visited the lake the very next day and cleaning work too had taken off. But it was stopped abruptly and now the menace has just increased, he added.

TOI had reported on Thursday about the unhygienic conditions that prevail in ten villages situated around the Bellandur lake that speak large of the health hazards that almost 1 lakh people face day in and day out.

Doctors stated that because air pollution, almost 50 per cent of the population in the ten villages around the Bellandur lake is suffering from urticaria (skin allergy) or respiratory allergy. In fact, a large chunk of the population has turned asthmatic.

On an average the primary health care centres receive five to six new cases of asthma per day. Of the monthly 10 to 12 new births in each village, three to four children develop asthmatic symptoms within a month local primary health care centre doctors stated.

On Thursday, residents decided to register a complaint against the lake development authority and the city municipal c o m m i s s i o n e r s ( M a h a d evap u r a and Bommanahalli) for not cleaning the lake. Dr H Sudarshan, Lok Ayukta Vigilance director (health) said that they would call all the parties for an explanation and inquire into the issue.