Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOC) is gearing up to declare Panamaram village in Wayanad district as the first smoke-free village in the State under its Mission Smokeless Village campaign.
The campaign is aimed at identifying households below the poverty line across the country, creating awareness about safe, correct and conservative use of LPG and then providing them deposit-free LPG connections, according to C.P. Unnikrishnan, chief area manager, IOC.
As many as 1.53 lakh of the 1.9 lakh households in the district are already covered by LPG and the remaining are still using biomass.
The estimated number of households at Panamaram village is 2,916, out of which 2,000 households are having LPG connections. The remaining households would be identified and provided LPG connections soon, he said.
Burning biomass inside houses had an adverse effect on the health of inmates, especially women and children, and on environment, he said.
According to the Global Burden of Diseases (GBD) study of the WHO, it was estimated that smoke from daily use of solid fuels for cooking was responsible for 3.9 million premature deaths annually, mostly in the form of child pneumonia and chronic lung and circulatory diseases in adults, Mr. Unnikrishnan said adding that being a clean fuel LPG was the most feasible solution to solve the issue.
The project would be launched at Panamaram village in the first phase and later it would be extended to other parts.
This initiative would be flagged off by Murali Srinivasan, Executive Director, IOC, Kerala, at Vyapara Bhavan Auditorium, Panamaram, at 10 a.m. on Monday. Wayanad District Collector Kesavendra Kumar will preside over the function.
