The New Indian Express 22.03.2013
The New Indian Express 22.03.2013
At a time when the waste management became a tough challenge to
Tripunithura municipality, its annual budget introduces promising plans
to regain the lost glory of the local body in the arena.
As per
the new vision, the hotels, the private firms and flats which are
effectively implementing systems to treat solid and liquid waste will be
granted grades and certificates. An amount of Rs 1 lakh has been
earmarked for the proposal.
“There will be a monitoring committee
under the Health Department to grade the institutions. Every year, the
highly graded hotels, private firms and flats will be given cash
awards. The first prize declared as Rs 10,000 and second and third price
will be Rs 5000 and Rs 3000 respectively,” said municipal chairman R
Venugopal.
He further said that the award programme has also a
additional advantage. “People will get quality food and service from the
hotels even in the local area. The prizes will be an encouragement to
the hotels to serve better food. They will rate the hotels, flats and
private firms,” he said.
The decision was taken to revive the lost
glory of the municipality in the field of waste management. “The
municipality has been selected as the best local body in waste
management in 2010. Now, we want to recapture the place,” he said.
The
budget also plans to secure ISO 9001, 2008 certificates. “The
certificates can be achieved only after following some norms and
regulations. The norms will also increase the quality in waste
management of the municipality,” he said.
The budget also
addresses the illegal dumping of waste on the roads. The tanker lorries
from the city which are dumping slaughter house waste and septic waste
in the area will be controlled by installing surveillance cameras in the
area. A total of Rs 10 lakh has been earmarked to the proposal.
A
solid waste treatment plant for plastic will also be set up in the
municipality. For this, Rs 10 lakh has been earmarked. The plastic waste
will be developed as granules in the plant.