Cleaning up of waste dumping spots and beautifying them into green spaces have gathered momentum in Ernakulam district as part of the Malinya Muktham Navakeralam campaign.
The campaign being spearheaded by local bodies and coordinated by the Haritha Keralam Mission and the Suchitwa Mission aims at having at least one such beautified spot each in all local bodies in the district by the Kerala Formation Day next month. The campaign got under way on October 2 and is set to conclude in March next year.
The idea is to ensure people’s participation in sustainable waste management by bringing about behavioural and attitudinal changes since littering continues to pose a major problem. The upkeep of the beautified spots will be left to the public. Those from the trading community, Kudumbashree, residents associations, and educational institutions as well as autorickshaw operators can be part of the initiative.
“We aim at creating sustainable waste management models, which in effect could be construed as an expansion of our ‘Sneharamam’ campaign in association with the National Service Scheme on campuses to local bodies. The maintenance of cleaned up and beautified spots has been a major issue. The Eloor municipality has come up with such a model where public pathways have been cleaned up and beautified, while graffiti conveying the significance of waste management adorns the walls,” said S. Ranjini, district coordinator of Nava Kerala Mission.
A similar campaign has been launched in the Koothattukulam municipality where a major dumping yard has been cleaned up. The creation of a green island is under way at the spot. A private nursery has contributed saplings at discounted prices for the beautification.
The beautification of the Vypeen-Munambam stretch is also on the anvil. The Perumbavoor municipality and Kuruppampady in Rayamangalam grama panchayat are also going ahead with similar projects.
“Making the local population stakeholders in the upkeep and maintenance of such beautified spots remains one of the key objectives of the whole campaign. We are also planning to undertake waste reduction initiatives in schools and colleges,” said Ms. Ranjini.
Published – October 08, 2024 01:14 am IST