The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Public roped in for cleaning campaign

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Friday, Apr 25, 2008
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Public roped in for cleaning campaign

Special Correspondent

Sunday to be ‘dry day’ for pre-monsoon drive

Ward-level operation to last 11 days
People asked to report accumulated waste

Thiruvananthapuram: The City Corporation has chalked out a ward-level pre-monsoon cleaning operation to eliminate vector breeding centres.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, Mayor C. Jayan Babu said the participatory programme was designed to cover the entire city in a phased manner. “We had received warning from public health experts that epidemics like viral fever, chikungunya, dengue fever and leptospirosis are likely to break out in the city during the next monsoon unless preventive measures are adopted. The campaign is scheduled to be completed before the expected onset of the South West monsoon on May 20.”

In the run-up to the 11-day pre-monsoon cleaning drive, the Corporation will organise a series of meetings with representatives of contractors, builders, hospitals and educational institutions, political parties, residents’ associations, service organisations, trade unions, youth and students bodies and heads of offices.

This will be followed by an outreach programme to ensure public support. Vehicle rallies and public meetings will be organised as part of the campaign and leaflets about water-borne and vector-induced diseases will be distributed to households. Cinema theatres will screen slides on the operation and banners will be exhibited at public places.

Initial task

Corporation Health Officer D. Sreekumar said the cleaning operation would take off with the desilting of drains and gutters and clearing of shrubbery.

An intensive drive is to be launched to clean up bus stands, markets, railway stations, pilgrim centres and tourist spots.

Dr. Sreekumar said squads would be constituted to visit houses and seek public support to update data on vector breeding centres.

“Health workers, Anganwadi staff, Kudumbasree volunteers, school and college students, NCC cadets and NSS volunteers will be enlisted. Hospital Development Committees, Parent Teacher Associations and employees in government offices also have a key role to play. Ward-level sanitation committees have started the groundwork. They will also ensure follow-up activities. An amount of Rs.10,000 has been allocated to each ward from the funds committed by the National Rural Health Mission,” he said.

On ‘dry day’

The Mayor said the campaign would educate the public about the need to observe ‘dry day’ on Sundays. “All it takes is to ensure that containers and other sources of stagnant water are removed from the premises.”

“The success of the whole operation depends on the level of public participation. Over 2 lakh families and 20,000 institutions in the city are expected to be involved with in the drive. We hope to get telephone and mobile service providers to deliver recorded messages about the programme to their subscribers,” Mr. Babu added.

‘Give information’

The Corporation has appealed to the public to provide information about accumulation of solid waste or water.

The project secretariat in the Corporation headquarters can be contacted on phone number 2164900.

Meanwhile, a district-level inter-sectoral coordination committee meeting held at the Collectorate on Wednesday decided that various departments will coordinate and chalk out programmes for disease prevention and control activities.

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