The city Corporation council passed action plans for clean-up of water bodies in the city and for pre-monsoon clean-up activities at a special meeting convened on Saturday.
Councillors of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) walked out at the fag end of the meeting in protest against comments made by some ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) councillors accusing the BJP councillors of having ulterior motives in leveling baseless criticim against previous clean-up campaigns of the civic body.
The action plan, presented by Health Standing Committee Chairperson P. Jameela Sreedharan, was prepared as part of the State government's Thelineerozhukum Navakeralam campaign to clean up water bodies across the State. The Haritha Keralam Mission, Suchitwa Mission, departments of Health and Water Resources, Kudumbashree, Clean Kerala Company and other agencies will be part of the campaign that will focus on cutting off the dumping of septage and other wastes from households and institutions into water bodies by providing alternative, scientific arrangements.
The campaign will begin this week with the ward-level sanitation committees mapping the condition of water bodies in their respective areas and identifying areas that need to be cleaned up. The sources of waste will also be identified and alternatives arranged. Ward-level action plans will be prepared after the initial mapping. Mass cleaning campaigns will be organised following this. A Corporation-level water committee headed by the Mayor will oversee the campaign.
Parallel to the campaign will run the Corporation's own drive for pre-monsoon cleaning of all public spaces. The action plan for this was also presented and approved in the council meeting. Clusters of 50 houses or institutions will be formed in each ward for clean-up activities. Ward-level micro plans will be prepared.
Biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste recovered from blocked drains will be segregated, and the non-biodegradable waste will be handed over to the Clean Kerala Company. The Haritha Karma Sena will carry out awareness drives in all wards to ensure that waste from households are segregated and handed over for processing. Activities for source-destruction of mosquitoes will be carried out. An amount of ₹1 lakh will be allocated to each ward for the pre-monsoon cleaning activities.
Mayor Arya Rajendran said that 1,619 works were taken up as part of pre-monsoon activities last year. This year, a total of 1,148 works have been proposed.
