For Muthuraman, a casual labourer of Mayandipatti in Madurai district, his village is now suddenly turning green.
Under the Government of India’s initiative ‘Gram Swaraj Abhiyan,’ select panchayats in each district have been identified for executing the cleaning programme. Officials from different departments have been visiting the village panchayats since April 14, B.R. Ambedkar’s birth centenary anniversary.
With the objective of educating the people to keep their surroundings clean, officials have been insisting on disposal of garbage in two different types of bins, no open defecation and the need to keep the surroundings free from pollution.
Like Muthuraman, Kamatchi of Sakkimangalam, a self-help group member, was amazed when she found herself in the company of top brass of the district administration a week ago. “I have seen the Collector on television and newspapers, but when he stepped out of his car the other day here, I was delighted...The officials disseminated the concepts of public health and safety at our chavadi” she said.
Speaking to The Hindu , Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao said under Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, it had been proposed to carry out seven schemes in 21 panchayats, covering Melur, Madurai North, Vadipatti, Peraiyur, Tirumangalam and Madurai South blocks, till May 5.
The schemes include dissemination of social justice, Swachh Bharat, Ujjwa panchayat (distribution of LPG refills), awareness creation of nuances of governance and self-help group empowerment.
As a part of the programme, the district administration has appointed 2,305 volunteers, identified as ‘Thooimai Kavalar’ (protector of cleanliness). They would be given ₹2,600 as monthly salary and they would be primarily responsible for collecting garbage from dwellings and disposing of it after segregation. Tricycles have been given to ‘Thooimai Kavalars.’
The idea, according to officials, is to not just educate the poor, very poor, vulnerable and differently abled persons, but also help them lead a better life.
With no defecation in the open, sanitation would improve. Likewise, with disposal of garbage in bins, health hazards such as dengue could be prevented. By planting of saplings, green cover could be enhanced. Such initiatives were not only needed in rural pockets, but also in urban areas, the Collector said.
Keeping the environment free from pollution was very important. Hence, by educating the villagers to use LED bulbs and LPG for cooking, the surroundings could be made pollution-free.
In all, there are 420 panchayats in the district. In every panchayat, the villagers have to understand the powers and responsibilities entrusted to them, which include utilisation of public funds, under the Panchayati Raj Act. Across the nation, it had been planned to celebrate April 24 as Panchayati Raj Diwas when Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be addressing the public, which would be telecast live, the officials said, and added that in Madurai, special gram sabha meetings would be conducted in all the panchayats on that day.
Speaking to The Hindu , villagers at Aylankudi said that since ‘Thooimai Kavalars’ collected garbage they had stopped disposing of it in open bins and channels. By doing so, the spread of diseases was prevented and encroachment of channels avoided.
Similarly, in Sakkimangalam and Chatrapatti, villagers had been given solar lights in toilets attached to their dwellings. The highlight is that a micro tank with a capacity of 25 litres of water is being fitted for use in these toilets.
“When the beneficiaries are given the infrastructure, there is every possibility of achieving the goal successfully,” said Additional Collector (Development) S.P. Amrith, who has been monitoring the programmes.
K. Arun Mani, Joint Director (Rural Development) of Tamil Nadu State Rural Livelihood Mission, said that there were 48 integrated row-toilets for men and 444 sanitary complexes for women in different locations in the district.
The Union government is keen to take up welfare measures. While the Rural Development department, Agriculture department and Mahalir Thittam officers have been entrusted with the task of implementing them, the beneficiaries in these hamlets are also learning Hindi in bits and pieces as the programmes were named in Hindi.
