Neglected plot posing a headache to neighbours

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A neglected plot near the General Post Office, Pulimood, is proving a headache to the people living nearby. The approximately 20 cents of land, which local people say is privately owned, is overrun by weeds and dangerously infested with snakes and mosquitoes posing a health hazard to the neighbourhood.Although the residents have not notified the police yet, they had taken up the issue with the Corporation. But no steps were taken, they say. ‘’It is easy for snakes and millipedes to enter our plot up climbers on the compound wall. Litterbugs also use this plot as a convenient trash dump,’’ B Sasikumar, a senior citizen who owns an adjacent plot, said. Rotten garbage, empty plastic bottles and burnt out fluorescent lamps have been dumped amidst the thick overgrowth. Tucked between two shops facing MG Road, it’s quite easy to miss the locked iron gate of the plot smothered with cinema posters. There are three residential plots, including Sasikumar’s, neighbouring the abandoned one on various sides. Sasikumar’s family live in constant fear of an overhanging branch of a peepal tree next door.  ‘’The branch could damage our tiled roof or the adjacent District Co-operative Bank building. Drainage has collapsed due to the thick roots, which have spread all over,’’ he said.The fears of the local people double once the rains hit. The garbage dump begins to stink and the mosquitoes multiply. S Ramaswami, a neighbour, says his family is suffering from irritations on the skin, apparently due to the proximity of  unhealthy surroundings. ‘’It is high time somebody attended to the problem,’’ the senior citizen said.‘’We are fed up with the menace created by this particular plot. We complained to the Health Inspector and the City Corporation urging them to clean up the plot and rid it of reptiles and mosquitoes. We also asked them to do something about the branches overhanging our plots. So far, nothing has happened,’’ said B Mukundan, executive member of the Pulimood Residents’ Association and a neighbour.The fact is, the plot issue has been persisting for some time. About five years back, fed up with official apathy, the three families had pooled Rs 8,000 and cleaned up the plot. Now, it’s again back to square one for them.Junior Health Inspector Shaji M S was in charge of this area until a month ago when he was transferred. According to him, the issue called for intervention by the police as the plot is privately owned. And this is what P S Sarojam, councillor of the Vanchiyoor ward, had to say. ‘’The Public Works Department has assured us that the branches would be cut away as part of road-widening.’’ That the plot in question is situated in the city centre, just a stone’s throw from the Government Secretariat, posing danger to an entire neighbourhood, reveals the extent of official apathy. ‘’This issue needs to be addressed soon. We can’t bear it anymore,’’ the residents demand in unison.