The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Coimbatore News : Movement for `Clean Vadavalli' launched

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

Movement for `Clean Vadavalli' launched

By Our Staff Reporter

COIMBATORE, FEB. 22 . In tune with the State Government's drive for clean villages, the Vadavalli Special Panchayat has launched a `Clean Vadavalli' programme.

Door-to-door collection of waste is on and the local body is looking for space for vermi composting, to convert biodegradable waste into manure. The programme is to be carried out in coordination with a women's voluntary organisation - Non-conventional Energy and Rural Development (NERD) Society, which operates from Vadavalli.

Door-to-door collection of waste from both houses/apartments and commercial establishments is done in all the 18 wards. The local body has employed nearly 80 members of the women self-help groups formed by the NERD Society for collecting the waste. However, the number of trolleys is only 60 while the requirement is 80 to 85, says the president of the Special Panchayat, M. Shanmughasundaram.

Collection fee

Each trolley has four bins - two red and two green. Non-biodegradable waste is collected in the red bins and the biodegradable in the green ones. "Initially, the panchayat will have to bear the expenses, including wages for the SHG members. Once the programme gets the total support of the people, we will have to levy a garbage collection fee. We have tentatively fixed it at Rs.5 or Rs.10 a house and Rs.100 a month for commercial establishments."

"Public support is vital for sustaining the programme and keeping Vadavalli clean," he says, in a veiled reference to programmes elsewhere that had struggled to gain people's support.

While garbage collection fee had been resisted by people and Councillors in the Corporation limits, the panchayat hopes that fee collection may be a smooth process so that a reasonable wage to the SHG members is ensured.

"Initially, we (the panchayat) will pay the wage. Once we collect the fee, it may be possible to pay Rs. 700 a worker a month," he says. "To begin with, we will have to bear the expenses. Then it will progress on a no loss-no profit basis. We will begin to gain when manure made of garbage finds buyers. The NERD Society has suggested that we sell it to farmers. And, recyclable plastic can be used to lay roads."

Safe disposal

Mr. Shanmugasundaram says that at present, garbage will be disposed of through a centralised landfill method. Land for vermicomposting is yet to be identified. Space found near residential layouts cannot be used, as it will violate pollution norms. Another site at Marudamalai falls within the reserve forest area. As the search for a site continues, a centralised method for safe disposal will be adopted. This, according to him, is better than indiscriminate dumping all over the panchayat limits.

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Movement for `Clean Vadavalli' launched