At the eleventh hour, the Coimbatore Corporation and the organisations behind the Guinness World Record attempt for the largest number of people in litter collection postponed the event that was scheduled for March 8.
The team behind the event led by Corporation Commissioner K. Vijayakarthikeyan decided at a meeting held on Friday to postpone it, without announcing a new date.
The explanation the team members had to offer was that the Android app needed to monitor people who would be participating in the litter collection drive had not yet got the Guinness World Record committee’s approval.
Plus, there were a few loose ends to tie up for which the team needed time.
Sources, however, had a different story to narrate. Speaking on condition of anonymity, Corporation officials and members of participating organisations blamed poor planning for the postponement.
To cite an instance, the sources said, the organising team had shared the rules and the plan of action only a couple of days ago. Given the enormity of the operation it had become apparent that the whole exercise could not have been organised in the remaining time.
The team had to earmark 40 collection spots in each of the five zones where 1,000 volunteers each would turn up to participate in the litter collection drive. These were to take place in well-earmarked places with an entry and exit point. During the collection period, the participating volunteers should not be found taking rest. Plus, the entire exercise had to be recorded, including aerial photography. And, the sources said, the team was totally ill-equipped to handle this.
Thousand volunteers at a collection spot meant as many vehicles on the road/spot.
But the Guinness rules clearly mention that the exercise should cause no traffic jams. The litter collection must go on only in open spaces. The volunteers should not collect waste from places dumped or earmarked for collection by the Corporation.
Such rules when shared at the last minute caught the participating organisations’ members off guard.
The sources further said that the organising team had combined the segregated waste collection championship with the Guinness litter collection drive and that too had added to the confusion.
A volunteer said that until Friday, many like her believed that the Guinness attempt was at segregated collection and only later in the day had she learnt that it was at having the largest number of people for litter collection.
Now as things stand, the Corporation had not announced the new date for the Guinness record attempt and it would do so taking in to account the on-going examinations, the sources said adding that until such time the civic body should continue with the segregated waste collection exercise.
