Administration fails to uproot congress grass from ESI Hospital

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 2

Though the administration is claiming to have weeded out congress grass and gajar booti from the premise of 35 government offices, Employees State Insurance (ESI) Hospital, Majitha Road is seems to be left out of the list.

Tall standing weed at the hospital premises is a cause of concern for patients as well as residents of government quarters on hospital premises. These weeds can also be seen growing inside a few vacant residential quarters at the hospital.

A woman resident of these residential quarters said, “This tall standing grass houses snakes and many other deadly reptiles. We have demanded for its removal repeatedly.” She said the weed had also destroyed the flooring of vacant quarters.

A patient at the hospital said, “These weeds have occupied every vacant spot at the hospital. However, it does not look relevant for a health institution to let the growth of harmful weeds go unchecked.” The patient said he had been coming to the hospital for a long time and the problem of these weeds was very old.

Civil Surgeon, Dr Jai Singh, said the hospital authorities would be instructed to make arrangements for uprooting of weeds. He said the wild grass was cut only few months ago and it had grown again.

The district administration had earlier initiated the drive to eliminate congress grass (parthenium hysterophorus) and gajar booti (coronopus didymus) on August 28. The pollens of these weeds, especially parthenium hysterophorus, are known for causing diseases such as eczema, dermatitis and asthma among human beings. The milch animals grazing on these weed too are at a risk of getting dermatitis.

The congress grass and gajar booti can be found in abundance at the rear of Guru Nanak Dev University and along various other roads.