Pramod Madhwaraj, Minister of State for Fisheries, Youth Empowerment and Sports, said on Monday that it was possible to make Udupi a garbage-free district within a year if all people cooperated.
He was speaking after launching the Swachh Udupi Mission, a training programme for elected representatives in urban local bodies in the district, here.
Mr. Madhwaraj said that all the 158 gram panchayats in the district were considered among the developed gram panchayats in the State along with the gram panchayats in Dakshina Kannada and Bengaluru Urban districts.
But there was one parameter in which the district was lagging behind: garbage disposal. Garbage was being disposed of on almost in the corner of almost of all roads in the district. Scientific disposal of garbage was a challenge to both the elected representatives and officers in the district. But the district administration was making earnest efforts to tackle this challenge. It had already approached an expert C. Srinivasan, Project Director, Indian Green Service, Vellore. He has trained members of voluntary organisations and officers in the district.
Instead of considering garbage as a waste, it should be treated as a resource. As per the plan drawn up by the district administration, waste segregation and its recycling would create about 5,000 jobs. All these efforts can bear fruit only if all the people take responsibility for waste segregation and utilise proper garbage disposal facilities provided by the administration.
“People should not shun their responsibility by saying that they had paid taxes and now it is the job of the municipality or the gram panchayat to maintain cleanliness,” Mr. Madhwaraj said.
Meenakshi Bannanje, president of Udupi City Municipal Council, Maheswar Rao, district in-charge Secretary, Priyanka Mary Francis, Deputy Commissioner, K.T. Balakrishna, Superintendent of Police, and others, were present.