As many as 100 young people will undertake a 13-hour awareness drive for sanitation and waste management across the State by travelling on the Parasuram Express from here to Kasaragod on Tuesday.
At a function at the Press Club here on Monday, Speaker G. Karthikeyan flagged off the drive.
The campaigners will board the train at 6 a.m. from the Central Station here. They will distribute pamphlets to the passengers and those on the platforms en route and hold a quiz on waste management on board.
The State-level awareness campaign aims at spreading the message “Waste makes wealth: youth for sanitation.” The campaign is being launched jointly by the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, the Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs, the Suchitwa Mission, Indian Railways, and the Venganoor-based Rajiv Gandhi Centre.
The volunteers have been handpicked from the directorate, the Kerala State Youth Welfare Board, the Rajiv Gandhi Centre, and the mentor youth clubs of the Nehru Yuva Kendra.
A team of four or five will be present in each coach, engaging the commuters in quiz and discussions. Correct answers will fetch gifts. Joining them on the journey will be Vinod Naranat, magician and ventriloquist, and Kitty the monkey.
“We have been educated about the various ways of source-level waste disposal. Through this awareness campaign, we want to educate the people that there are simple ways that they can try out at the home to solve the problem of waste management,” said S. Sakkeena, a B.Com. student who will be part of the awareness journey.
C.R. Arun and his friends are planning to educate the people about the ill-effects of using plastic. “Why can't we reduce the use of plastic in our houses? Such small measures will be of help to solve this problem,” Arun B. says.
The volunteers will speak about the concept of four Rs — reduce, reuse, recycle, and replace.
An orientation camp for the young people was held on Monday. The flag-off ceremony was followed by an awareness rally, “Green Walk.”
