Spic and span: Members of the Kurinji Self-Help Group engaged in collection of garbage at the Collectorate. Photo: R.M. Rajarathinam.

TIRUCHI: The self-help concept has thrown up several innovative initiatives across the State.

Now a city-based women's self-help group has been vested with the responsibility of maintaining the upkeep of the Collectorate campus here.

The District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) has hired the Kurinji Women's Self-Help Group of Palakkarai in the city to clean, collect and dispose solid waste generated in the Collector's office campus, which houses the offices of various government departments.

The 750-and-odd government employees working in these offices foot the bill for the venture by contributing Rs.10 each a month.

Fourteen SHG members, clad in uniform saris and wearing name badges, are now deployed not only to sweep the entire campus (excluding the interiors of the offices) but also collect the garbage from each government office and dispose them on a day-to-day basis.

All offices in the campus have been equipped with special garbage containers to hoard waste, which would be cleared by the SHG members.

Officials now hope to keep the campus litter-free by preventing the open dumping of office waste. A solid waste disposal shed has been established near the herbal farm inside the campus where degradable waste, after segregation, are converted into bio-manure.

The SHG has also taken over the maintenance of the herbal farm, the proceeds of which would go to the group.

Besides doing the initial ground clearing exercise using machinery and NSS volunteers, the DRDA has also given a pushcart and garbage bins to the SHG.

The contributions from the employees are routed through the personal assistant (accounts) to the Collector. Now, the group is given a monthly honorarium of Rs.7,500.

Considering that this was not sufficient remuneration for the entire team, the DRDA has now planned to set up a canteen inside the campus to be run by the SHG.

"We are also considering the possibility of arranging for credit to the group for setting up a public telephone call office and purchasing a photocopying machine," the DRDA Project Officer, Manohara Singh, said.

The move appears to have gone down well with the public too. The SHG could also be asked to maintain the toilets in the campus, which have been crying for attention, observed a frequent visitor.

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