The Kerala government has initiated people’s auditing of the waste management measures of local bodies as part of making the State waste-free by next year.
The green auditing, which involves citizens and representatives of various organisations, is part of the steps being implemented after the massive fire in Brahmapuram dump yard of the Kochi city Corporation recently. The Kerala High Court had asked the government to step up measures to ensure proper and scientific management of waste.
As per the Local Self-Government department, the idea is to carry out the auditing on June 12. This is to assess whether the local bodies have implemented the preliminary measures. The audit team will include members of residents’ associations, Kudumbashree, trade organisations, social forums, and civil society organisations. The objective of the auditing is to ensure transparency and efficiency in the waste management initiatives of the various local bodies. The auditing is expected to turn into an occasion for creating awareness of scientific waste management among the public.
Each local body can form a 12-member social audit samiti to carry out the evaluation. They can either nominate or seek applications from those interested in joining the initiative. In Corporations and bigger municipalities, more than one audit samiti can be formed. Municipalities having up to 30 divisions need to have only one audit samiti. In Corporations, 20 divisions can have one samiti.
Audit team
The members of the audit team have to evaluate the progress of installing source-level waste management systems in households and institutions. They need to check whether community-composting facilities have been implemented in the local bodies. The auditing will also include an assessment of whether waste is being segregated as per category/type in households and commercial establishments.
