More than 1,200 sanitary workers, panchayat secretaries and block-level staff from Vellore, Ranipet, Tiruvannamalai and Tirupattur districts have been roped in for relief work in inundated areas of Greater Chennai Corporation limits at least for the next three days.
Officials of District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) who are coordinating logistics from these districts for relief works in Chennai and other affected areas, said that most of the sanitary workers and their superiors were allotted specific areas in Chennai and its outskirts to undertake relief works, including pumping out stagnated water, disinfection, garbage disposal and street-light repair works.
“Sanitary teams from respective districts were led by Block Development Officers (BDOs) and engineers. Food and accommodation will be taken care of by in-charge officers of respective districts. They will stay until the relief work is completed,” K. Selvarasu, Project Director, DRDA (Tirupattur), told The Hindu.
Among these districts, Tiruvannamalai, coordinated by Collector B. Murugesh, has the highest number of 466 sanitary workers and other officials for taking up relief work in Chennai, followed by Tirupattur (275 persons), Vellore (175 persons) and Ranipet (150 persons). Most of the sanitary workers are from village and town panchayats in these districts. Sanitary team from each district comprises sanitary workers, sanitary supervisors, panchayat secretaries, deputy block development officers, BDOs and engineers.
DRDA officials said that a sanitary team from Tiruvannamalai has been deployed in the Kundrathur region, covering areas like Porur, Chembarambakkam, Gerugambakkam and Mangadu. The sanitary team from Vellore, which is being coordinated by R. Aarthi, project director (DRDA), was engaged in Villivakkam zone of Greater Chennai Corporation for mass cleaning, electrical and plumbing works. The team from Ranipet was given the task in Poonamallee and nearby villages and areas around Maraimalai Nagar on the southern end of Chennai comes under sanitary teams from Tirupattur district.
The sanitary teams from these districts also carry adequate tools and equipment like saw machines, brooms, bamboo baskets to collect wastes and fogging machines. Teams were also provided with safety kits like masks, hand gloves and rubber shoes, first aid kit, blankets, pillows and mats. Each district, on an average, also sent 10 high-powered diesel generators (20kw) to pump out stagnated water from residential areas. In order to disinfect affected areas, over 300 bags of bleaching powder and an equal amount of lime powder from each district were also dispatched along with the teams.
