Step up Waste Management System, Urban Local Bodies Told

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Experts today urged urban local bodies to step up activities and take urgent measures for effective management of waste in their municipalities and corporations.

Such steps are essential for the government in its efforts towards a clean, green and healthy state, top officials told a two-day training programme organized in the capital city by the Local Self Government Department (LSGD).

LSGD Additional Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan, while speaking at the opening session, said the progress in the ongoing ‘Malinya Muktham Nava Keralam’ campaign is palpable, and highlighted that the efforts of urban local bodies in waste management were yet to come up to expectations.

The training programme, organized in association with Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA), featured sessions to familiarise the functionaries of the state’s urban local bodies with the intensive activities of the three-phase ‘Malinya Muktham Nava Keralam’ launched in March this year as a scientific, inclusive and sustainable cleanliness movement. The speakers also discussed various aspects of the issue to prescribe solutions to the problems.

Muraleedharan noted that the challenges being faced by the urban local bodies were “very serious”, exhorting the functionaries to utilize the “entire resources available at your disposal to face the emerging situations.”

Citing the Brahmapuram mishap where a massive dump-yard near Kochi caught fire in March this year, she said failure in waste management systems can lead to environmental issues as well as public-health hazards. “We need a serious introspection on our shortcomings in developing an effective waste management system,” Smt Muraleedharan added. “Inappropriate garbage handling will gravely affect the economy, leading to industries such as tourism to face the repercussions.”

Noting that the LSGD’s door-to-door collection of waste has “improved considerably”, the senior bureaucrat said the waste stored at material collection facilities remain unprocessed due to onward linkage-related problems. “This is a cause for concern in the wake of recent fire incidents,” she said, adding that some of the municipalities and corporations are yet to finalize the plans to manage sanitary waste.

Muraleedharan urged the participants to utilize the services of NSS volunteers, student police cadets and trade as well as professional associations besides charity organizations for effective implementation of the waste-management system.

Present on the occasion were Suchitwa Mission Executive Director K.T. Balabhaskaran; Clean Kerala Company Managing Director G.K. Suresh Kumar; KILA Director General Joy Elamon and Directorate of Panchayats Chief Engineer Sandeep K G.