Kochi: Kochi corporation is to join hands with various agencies, NGOs, trade unions etc to clear waste lying in the street. During the drive which will be held throughout this month, the corporation will remove such waste from the streets.
This is to avoid waste in the streets decomposing in the rains and thereby causing spread of communicable diseases during monsoon. Waste remains piled up in various parts of the city as the corporation has stopped transporting non-biodegradable waste from the city to Brahmapuram.
As the corporation is not collecting waste, especially plastic waste from the shops in the city, most shop owners are dumping garbage in the streets.
“We have already started the drive. Various NGOs, trade unions, residents’ associations etc are cooperating with us to remove such waste. We want to clear the waste lying in the streets before the onset of monsoon. That is why we are taking all-out measures to clear the waste,” mayor M Anil Kumar said.
“The volunteers of those agencies will visit the areas which are hotspots of waste dumping. They will segregate the waste into various types. The corporation workers will collect the organic waste while non-biodegradable waste will be given to other agencies we have empanelled for the purpose,” Anil Kumar said.
The corporation authorities are approaching more agencies to take part in the drive. “Various trade unions, students’ unions, service organisations etc have already taken part in the drive that commenced on Tuesday. Some NGOs have expressed their willingness to join hands with the corporation to remove the garbage from the streets. We are approaching political parties, their trade union arms, students’ wings etc for taking part in the drive. Our goal is to clear the entire waste from the streets in the city by month end,” Anil Kumar said.
“The waste has been lying in Ernakulam market for a fortnight now. It is after exerting much pressure that the corporation workers collect waste from the market. They have not collected the garbage in the past two weeks. Now, the market where hundreds of people visit every day is stinking. It may lead to the spread of various communicable diseases as well. So, we request the corporation authorities to clear the waste at the earliest or arrange some agencies which collect the waste,” said Salim, president, Ernakulam market stall owners association.
