Coimbatore: Four village panchayats in Coimbatore district have taken the lead in rural solid waste management in a scientific manner, aiming for zero garbage dumping in their limits.
The four panchayats in Karamadai block have entered into an agreement with a private company for scientific disposal of waste. A Ravichandran, block development officer of Karamadai block, signed an MoU with ITC Limited on Tuesday to maintain zero garbage at the four panchayats.
Head of ITC Packaging and Specialty Paper unit, Coimbatore, Pranav Sharma signed the agreement on behalf of the company.
The programme will be implemented in Thekkampatti, Kemmarampalayam, Kalampalayam and Maradhur panchayats with the help of Imayam Social Welfare Organization offering expertise in solid waste management.
As per the MoU, ITC will create awareness among residents to segregate the garbage at household level. ITC will also conduct various awareness programmes and guide the panchayat staff to do scientific waste management.
Ravichandran said that the solid waste management programme will be rolled out in a phased manner. The programme has been taken up under public private community partnership on Rural Solid waste management (RSWM) under the aegis of “Mission Sunehrakal.” The programme will be in place for three years.
Panchayat officials said that few villages including Odanthurai which is also located in Karamadai have been implementing solid waste management programmes for years. But several villages are yet to wake up to the concept and the programme in these four village panchayats would be a wake-up call for others.
Representatives from Imayam said that awareness programmes on solid waste management have already started in the villages.