Documentary on clean village selected for film festival

BENGALURU: Gold of Laila, a documentary produced and directed by city-based K Gopinath has been selected to screen at the Prakriti International Documentary Film Festival to be held from January 21 to 23 at Anna University, Chennai.        

Laila, a small village situated in Belthangady taluk of Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka has earned a good name at a national level. The bio-degradable waste collected from every household of the Laila village is converted into fertile manure by composting method in about seven weeks. This manure is named as Laila Gold and sold for `8 per kg, turning the waste into a profitable venture.   

Laila Gold is a chemical-free manure sold to farmers by village panchayat and also by the department of Horticulture, Government of Karnataka. The product is very popular even in the surrounding villages. The village has been recognised and awarded as the prestigious Nirmal Gram Puraskar, Rashtriya Gaurava Grama Sabha award by the Government of India and Gandhi Grama Puraskar by the Government of

Karnataka respectively for its revolutionary approaches.
Explaining about the achievements of the village, K Gopinath, who works as a technician at The Educational Multimedia Research Centre (EMMRC) said, “Laila Gold has brought name and fame to the village, apart from making the farmers’ fields very fertile. This project has also contributed to cleansing the village, which is a role model for Swaccha Bharat Abhiyan. It is highly enriched with primary nutrients namely Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium (NPK) in the required amounts for the natural growth of the plants.”

“The population of the village is about 8,000 and its spread over 1,859 hectares have done helpful in implementing rural development schemes. There is no open defecation in the village and it is plastic-free. They convert wet waste into manure and non-degradable waste becomes a commodity for sale. Segregation of waste at the source has helped in a big way for the programme,” adds Gopinath. 
Explaining how the villagers are dealing with the waste, he said the villagers have given more importance to cleanliness and they have established a solid waste management system in the village.