Kerala: 59 local bodies in Thiruvananthapuram to attain clean tag

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Fifty three panchayats and seven urban local bodies in Thiruvananthapuram will be declared to have attained cleanliness status in solid waste management on Saturday.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan will make the declaration for 588 local bodies across the state via online on Saturday.
The project to evaluate local bodies in terms of cleanliness levels was envisaged as part of state government’s 12-item programme. It aimed to elevate 500 gram panchayats and 50 urban local bodies to total cleanliness status.
The local bodies have been evaluated based on guidelines determined by Suchitwa mission, Haritha Keralam mission, MGNREGA and Clean Kerala mission. All panchayats under 30 block panchayats have attained cleanliness status.
It is the first step in attaining total cleanliness status. The local bodies will also be assessed for their system for handling liquid waste management.
The criteria included source level treatment of bio-degradable waste, arranging facilities for collection and processing of non-biodegradable waste, material collection facility, clearing public places of dumps, compliance with green protocol in government offices and public functions. Local bodies which scored above 60 marks out of 100 were found eligible for cleanliness status. The local bodies were assessed based on criteria that included 20 points.