The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Thrikkakara to ask flats to set up garbage disposal units

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Friday, Jun 27, 2008
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Thrikkakara to ask flats to set up garbage disposal units

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: Thrikkakara panchayat which was one of the first panchayats in the State to launch a campaign for garbage-free residential areas will ask new housing complexes and dwelling apartment clusters to make their own arrangements for sustainable handling of waste.

An official of the panchayat said that 73 new dwelling complexes and flats had been identified by the panchayat authorities in the first phase. They will be asked to set up their own facilities for waste management.

The official said that despite warnings and a campaign to create awareness about the problem of dumping waste at public places there were rampant instances of people throwing unsegregated waste at public places.

The problem had become uncontrollable in some areas that the panchayat has now arranged night patrolling at the spot where waste used to be dumped initially. The panchayat official said that the patrolling had proved quite effective.

Bio-gas plants

The panchayat has also firmed up plans to provide help for setting up 2,000 bio-bas plants in individual households. The beneficiaries are being identified. The project was drawn up last year and is being implemented during the current financial year.

A panchayat official said that one of the problems faced by the panchayat was the rapid increase in the number people in the panchayat area. The population in Thrikkakara panchayat was around 57,000 in 1991. It has now gone up to an estimated 1.25 lakh.

Though Thrikkakara was one of the first panchayats in Kerala to go in for decentralised waste management, not all of the units set up are working to their capacity.

The panchayat had inaugurated the first project for generation of electricity from market waste at Thrikkakara Market on March 14 this year. The project was jointly funded by Ernakulam District Panchayat and the Thrikkakara panchayat. The project was set up at a cost of Rs. 8.5 lakh.

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