“Ente Nagaram Sundara Nagaram” – How Thiruvananthapuram was Cleaned
Unlike the failed ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign of Prime Minister Modi, which only consists of celebrities and political leaders posing for photographs with brooms, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation led by the LDF launched an innovative campaign to clean up the city and find sustainable solid waste disposal mechanisms through people’s participation. Here, K.Chandrika, mayor of the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation describes the hugely successful program.
Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation (TMC) is the biggest municipal body in Kerala, consisting of 100 wards. It has been known for bringing about many innovative changes to benefit its citizens and make it a modern, progressive city.
One of the ways in which the TMC has pioneered a new path is in tackling the growing problem of garbage. Recent years have seen increasing accumulation of garbage and related inconvenience. Although Thiruvananthapuram had been adjudged the Best City many times by GOI but this escalating issue of garbage dumping caused growing problems. The TMC was compelled to take urgent steps to resolve the issue.
A dumping yard was designated for the solid waste disposal and it’s processing so that the city will be safe and beautiful for people to live in and also for the numerous visitors. This step will help in preventing the many sudden outbreaks of contagious diseases.
Several crores of rupees were spent on the Vilappilsala Treatment Plant till 18 Dec 2011, when the Government ordered to shut down the project due to severe protest and agitation by the local people. The sudden upsurge and opposition by a group of people and the resultant closure of the treatment plant caused uncertainty for the whole process of collection, transporting, dumping and processing of the heaping solid wastes in the city.
The Corporation had no option but to find and switch over to other suitable remedies for the great malady of piling garbage. TMC officials were at their wit’s end because people were thoughtlessly throwing their entire household waste in every nook and corner of the city as per their convenience. The predominant feeling was that the issue has to be solved by the Corporation rather than by people themselves.
Then the TMC came up with a new idea. It launched the “Ente Nagaram Sundara Nagaram” campaign to create awareness on effective management of waste and also to implement various measures to make the city clean, eliminating accumulation of waste in and around the Corporation area.
For achieving this goal, the TMC laid down six parameters. It envisages 60% of households with waste treatment facility and 80% of households to have a tie up with trained service team for waste treatment, who either help households for treatment of waste in their own treatment system or collect garbage and carry it to a common treatment plant. Plastic and e-waste are to be collected from all houses and institutions for further treatment. This also includes the installation of adequate number of waste disposal systems like Community Bio Gas plants, Aerobic Bin Etc. A common treatment facility will be installed in each ward so that waste dumping at many places will be eliminated. Public institutions were also requested to participate in this campaign effectively and fruitfully in this regard.
Those wards which are implementing these guidelines and achieving the expected level of outcome in Waste Managements would be declared as ‘Suchithwa Ward’ (Clean Ward). This will be evaluated and adjudged by an independent technical team of Corporation after their field level inspection in each ward with the respective Ward Councilors.
It initiated a program for installing Pipe compost plants. More than 70,000 households have now got these and they are operating as per expectation. In addition, the TMC has also constructed biogas plants in public places which can process huge amounts of garbage at a time. As of date, 20 biogas plants are running effectively and another 30 plants are under construction in various parts of the city.
Apart from these, Aero-bin biodegradable waste compounding units were installed in certain areas to eliminate garbage produced in that area. In addition, the TMC signed an agreement with Clean Kerala company for plastic and e-waste disposal mechanism which is also delivering good output in the area.
Another notable initiative was the setting up of Nirmal Kiosks for collecting solid waste and its disposal on payment mode. This is also delivering the expected outcome.
Meanwhile, these initiatives led to complete clean-up of the Erumakkuzhi Dumping Yard at Chalai and Palayam Dumping Yard behind the Connemara Market, which used to have filth strewn all around. Today, both these places are clean and beautified and there is no sign of the dumping yards.
Phase I of this initiative was completed on 31st December 2014 and Clean Wards were awarded. Inauguration of Phase II was held on 27th February 2015. Six more wards that had achieved the parameters of “Ente Nagaram Sundara Nagaram” were awarded. This encourages the entire cities and people to work for it, in order to make our city Clean and away from the heaping habit of solid wastes in different places in our city.