November 16, 2014
Array

People Shows Determination in Party-led ‘Clean Kerala Drive’

N S Sajith

THE Communist Movement in Kerala, which has a glorious history of spearheading pro-people movements like land reforms, total literacy mission and people’s planning programme, kick-started another people’s movement (Shuchitwa Keralam) to save the masses from the menace of garbage in the state. CPI (M) workers are leading the people from all walks of life to wipe out the waste and garbage in cities and villages through a decentralised system. Members and leaders from other parties also joined the programme in various districts of the state. The movement to activate people and local self bodies to recycle the garbage from the source was kick-started on November 1, the formation day of Kerala state, by CPI (M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan at Jagathi ground at Thiruvananthapuram. On the inaugural day, more than 100 centres including three main centres in state capital Thiruvananthapuram were cleaned by the people. After inaugurating the programme, Pinarayi Vijayan, CPI (M) district secretary Kadakampalli Surendran and Member of Parliament T N Seema led thousands of workers in cleaning Jagathi ground for four hours. The 2.3-acre ground, which turned into a trench of garbage after the closure of the recycling plant in Vilappilshala following a court order, wore a clean look. CPI(M) has taken this initiative as the garbage issue caused the return of epidemics and the pollution of water bodies. The CPI (M) State Plenum held in Palakkad last year also urged for a massive programme to counter this threat. Inspired by a successful pioneering project which was taken up in Alappuzha Municipality under the guidance of CPI (M) central committee member and MLA T M Thomas Isaac, Thiruvanathapuram Corporation today started the mega cleaning project in Eruamakkuzhi, another vast garbage-filled ground in the city. Health Minister V S Shivakumar has inaugurated and participated in the cleaning drive, called My City, Beautiful City, in Erumakkuzhi. Apart from Mayor K Chandrika, Thomas Isaac, BJP leader and former central minister O Rajagopal, MLA A Shivankutti and CPI leader K Prakash Babu participated in the programme. CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan inaugurated the programme near Thiruvananthapuram Medical College. Kodiyeri and MLA Koliyakkod Krishnan Nair led the programme. Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan’s visit to all three main centres was an inspiration to workers. Thiruvananathapuram Corporation has already installed aerobic bin in various centres to recycle the bio-degradable waste. Apart from this bins, thousand of pipe compost system were also installed in households. Instead of carrying the garbage to a mega recycling plant outside the city, the corporation is now implementing the project to recycle the garbage at the source following the Alappuzha model of garbage recycling.