On Saturday (October 19), members of resident welfare associations under Zone 9, senior officials from the Greater Chennai Corporation, health inspectors and police officers converged under one roof to discuss how residents can work in coordination with government agencies for cleaner and safer neighbourhoods.
Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner G. Prakash and Mylapore MLA R. Nataraj were the chief guests. The meeting was organised by Kalyana Nagar Association and Mylapore Resident Welfare Association (MRWA) and inaugurated by by KNA president S.M. Srinivasan.
One subject dominated most part of the meeting: waste management. RWA representatives and the officials pitched in ideas to help reduce the quantum of garbage sent to landfills.
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Kalyana Nagar Association (KNA) proposed to compost food and other biodegradable waste in a vacant plot at West Circular Road in Mandavelipakkam. “The plot belongs to the Tamil Nadu Housing Board and at present, is being used as a dumping ground by many residents and commercial establishments in the neighbourhood. If the government is willing to lease the land to the Association, we can set up a vermicomposting yard to compost biodegradable waste. This will minimise the amount of garbage sent to landfills. The plot can be effectively used as a garbage processing centre,” says V. Shankar of a committee member of KNA.
RWAs including KNA, Raja Annamalaipuram Residents Association (RAPRA), Thiruveedhi Amman Koil Street Residents Association (TAKSRA), MRWA, MRC Nagar Association and Jeth Nagar Residents Association’s (JERA) shared their experience in streamlining and minimising the generation of garbage. Representatives of the Associations made presentations on their accomplishments in keeping litter off their streets.
Corporation Commissioner G. Prakash urged the residents to take ownership of waste generated in each household instead of looking complex logistics and land solutions such as collecting garbage and transporting them to dump yards. He said that segregation of source and composting at household level will minimise garbage generation.
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MLA R. Nataraj called for binless streets and asked each and every resident of Mylapore to work towards the goals.
K. Viswanathan, secretary of MRWA said that the RWAs have decided to meet periodically and share ideas on sustainable waste management and review the progress made on zero-waste and binless streets.
Later, Uthra Ramesh and her team presented a dance, stressing the need for a garbage-free environment.