The Hindu                              27.02.2013

Shunya to manage wastes

Staff Reporter 

Come June, the Coimbatore Corporation will implement the Zero Waste Management project, Shunya, in Ward 23.

In the run up to the implementation, sources said, the Corporation would hold a workshop-cum-meeting for conservancy workers, the Ward councillor, the non-government organisation concerned, and activists and representatives of residents’ welfare association.

After taking on board the stake holders, the Corporation would implement the zero waste management project by first segregating waste at source. And when the Corporation scale up the project to cover all the wards, it would also involve rag pickers and waste handlers in the informal sector.

The sources said that towards awareness creation and roping in the stakeholders, the Corporation had received Rs. 85 lakh under the Shunya project from AIFORIA, a German agency engaged in the project.

Coimbatore is one of the cities chosen for the project by AIFORIA and funding agencies and NGOs in the European Union.

The sources said that the civic body chose Ward 23 because it had the right infrastructure, a market, restaurants, and very good commercial activity. And also households, giving the right mix to try and learn waste management.

The sources reasoned that in many cities the local body concerned invested heavily and publicised source segregation of waste without the necessary backend infrastructure in that the waste collected would end up as composite waste in the dump yard.

The Coimbatore Corporation on the other hand had started addressing the waste management issues by first building the necessary infrastructure to process the collected waste, strengthening the logistics and then going in for door-to-door collection of waste.

Infrastructure

The sources said that the Corporation had improved infrastructure by investing close to Rs. 96 crore – the funds it obtained from the Union Government under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

In Ward 23, the Corporation after training the NGO – in this case, Hand-in-Hand – would tell them what was expected of them. And the NGO would take complete care of the ward.

The sources added that the civic body was implementing the Shunya project in association with ICLEI, an international NGO. On Tuesday, Andrea Burzacchini of AIFORIA and Abbu Venkata Niroop of ICLEI, South Asia were in the city to review the progress made and suggest ways to improve the implementation.

The Coimbatore Corporation collects nearly 800 tonne waste a day, which is collected and transport to the transit stations and then the Vellalore dump yard.

The Hindu                        27.02.2013

Tablets for Corporation special school students, teachers

J. Sundarakrishnan (second right), Director, Digital Equaliser Programme, American India Foundation, presenting to Mayor S.M. Velusamy (second left) a copy of the compact disc containing education content for Standard X students at the Coimbatore Corporation on Tuesday Commissioner in-charge S. Sivarasu (left) and D. Baskaran, State Programme Manager, American India Foundation, are in the picture. —PHOTO S. SIVA SARAVANAN.

The Coimbatore Corporation will give tablet computing devices for students and teachers of Corporation Special School for the Hearing-impaired in R.S. Puram. A release from the civic body said that the Mayor made the announcement to this effect at a meeting held at the Corporation on Tuesday. The initiative, which the Corporation was implementing as part of the Digital Equaliser Programme (DEP) in association with the American Indian Foundation, would benefit 42 students and five teachers of the school.

As part of the initiative, the Corporation would also invest in hardware and software to equip five schools — one each in the five zones — to make fully connected schools. This would be based on the Maniakarampalayam School, where Dell had invested in hardware and software to help students gain access to the latest learning methodologies.

Once the infrastructure was complete, members of the American Indian Foundation would train the teachers and then students in using the computers to better the teaching-learning process.

The release said that the Mayor through video conference interacted with the students and teachers of the Corporation schools, where the Foundation had implemented the digital equaliser programme. Hariharan, a teacher at the Corporation school in R.S. Puram, presented the slide show he had created on a topic. Jasmin, a teacher at the Corporation Higher Secondary School, Rathinapuri, also showcased the project she had created using the techniques at the Digital Equaliser Programme.

A couple of students also got to showcase to the Mayor what they had learnt.

At the programme the Mayor also a released a compact disc containing education materials that would benefit Class X students, who would appear for their public examination in a few weeks from now. J. Sundarakrishnan, Director, Digital Equaliser Programme, American Indian Foundation, spoke on what the organisation had in store for the Corporation school students in the coming months. Commissioner in-charge S. Sivarasu, councillors and officials were present at the function.