Governor P. Sathasivam on Friday declared six wards of the city Corporation ‘clean wards’ as part of the My City, Beautiful City waste management programme of the local body. With this, the total number of ‘clean wards’ in the city has reached 10, out of the total 100.
The wards which were declared clean are Jagathy, Kuravankonam, Pattom, Ulloor, Edavakkode and Sreekanteswaram. The selection was as per the opinions of an expert committee, which inspected the wards to check whether they met the guidelines specified.
In December 2014, the Corporation had declared Palayam, Nedumkad, Kowdiar, and Muttada wards clean.
The ruling CPI(M) was cautious this time in the selection of ‘clean wards’ following an uproar during the first phase of the declaration. Both the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stayed away from the declaration programme and protested against what they termed a ‘gimmick’ of the ruling CPI(M).
Among the six wards selected this time, Jagathy and Sreekanteswaram are being held by the BJP, Pattom by the UDF, Ulloor and Edvakkode by the CPI(M), and Kuravankonam by the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), which is part of the ruling combine.
To go with the thrust of the programme — of treatment of waste at source — a major guideline for a clean ward is that at least 60 per cent of households should have a pipe compost or mini-biogas plant installed.