Under the “Thooimayana Thoothukudi” (clean Thoothukudi) campaign, all waterways and channels were being cleaned since the last one week, said Lok Sabha MP Kanimozhi here on Saturday.
After inspecting a few locations, where conservancy workers from Thoothukudi Corporation were engaged in removing silt and other encroachments in the channels, she told reporters that the works were going on as per schedule.
The importance of removing garbage and unwanted silt had to be disseminated with the public. “If they use dumper bins, complaints of choking in waterbodies can be avoided...” she felt and hoped the campaign would reach the masses.
The officials said that before the north east monsoon sets in, they had targeted to remove the silt from the channels, especially, the Buckle Canal.
Responding to queries, Ms Kanimozhi said that the officials had already taken note of the low lying areas in Thoothukudi city and action had been initiated to drain the rainwater, which has been a perennial issue during rainy season. “We hope to give a new meaning to “Thooimayana Thoothukudi” and the objective was to give a better environment,” she noted.
Corporation Commissioner Charusree said that they had deployed 12 JCBs and 200 workers in each location. As and when the cleaning operation was complete, the batch would be moved to another location. By engaging large number of workers at a single point, the stretch gets cleaned up faster.
District Collector K. Senthil Raj and Social Welfare Minister Geetha Jeevan said that the cleaning campaign had been enhanced to the district too.
The ground staff in municipalities and panchayats have been sensitized to clear the garbage the same day and educating the people to use dumper bins have been taken up through various modes.
The next step would be to give a facelift to tourist spots and landmarks such as Tiruchendur Temple and among others in the district as part of the “Thooimayana Thoothukudi,” the officials added.