While urging the Ramakrishna Mission to continue with the Swachh Mangaluru programme, people asked the organisation to work towards making the city a ‘zero waste’ one.
During the public consultation on ‘What next to Swachh Mangaluru’ held at the Ramakrishna Mutt premsies here on Sunday, a suggestion was made to involve more children in the cleaning work to make them more aware on the need to lead a clean life.
Councillor Premanand Shetty said the focus of the mutt should be on making people process the waste at their homes. “A unique campaign should be taken up to make people process waste at their houses,” he said. Former councillor Prakash Saliyan expressed the need for waste collection centres at every ward and said people should be made aware about waste segregation.
Stressing on making children aware about cleaning, District Armed Reserve Head Constable Balakrishna Bhat asked the mutt to make more people adopt pot composting of wet waste. Activist Ganesh Mulky said a campaign should be held for making of eco-bricks by stuffing non-recyclable chips packets and other plastic packets in glass bottles.
Anil Rao, who has been involved in the Swachh Mangaluru programmes, said many volunteers have been involved in the cleaning programmes coordinated by the mutt. “We are now getting restless. We need the mutt to continue with the cleaning programme,” he said.
Subhodaya Alva said the cleaning programme should be held till the city becomes litter-free. Lecturer Subhadra Bhat said educational campuses should maintain clean campuses and Miyawaki forests should come up. Lecturer Smitha Shenoy and activist Shettigar said people should be aware of the laws governing waste segregation and fine should be collected from those throwing waste in public. Activist Sunil Kumar Bajal asked the mutt to take up campaign to develop solidarity among communities.
Earlier, Ekagamyananada Swami from the mutt said the Swachh Mangaluru campaign was held from 2015 to 2019 and this was followed by a cleaning campaign involving various organisations. The mutt was promoting pot composing and community composting. “We want Mangaluru to become a zero-waste city,” he said.
Pro-Chancellor of Nitte (Deemed to be University) N. Vinay Hegde, Swami Jitakamanandaji from Ramakrishna Mutt Mangaluru, president of Bhandary Foundation Manjunath Bhandary, former MLA Ganesh Karnik and Swami Mahamedhanandaji from Chennai also spoke.
