Cleaning up its act

October 02, 2014 12:00 am | Updated May 24, 2016 11:55 am IST

The Corporation’s efforts at keeping the city’s public spaces clean are laudable, but more can be done. On Gandhi Jayanti, the Kochiite can introspect on playing a bigger role towards a clean Kochi

On Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary on October 2, we remember him and his ideals. Cleanliness was an important tenet he professed. He equated it with Godliness. He reminded us that it does not require money to be neat, clean and dignified.

As a mark of respect to Gandhi we rush to name public spaces after him but it is more than often that we fail to keep our spaces clean. The city has two important landmarks named after him: The Fort Kochi beach and the main high street - M.G. Road. Are these spaces clean? Then are the other public spaces like the Ernakulam Boat Jetty, the KSRTC bus depot, Marine Drive and such, where everyday life is lived, clean? Who is responsible and how much does the Kochiite do to keep his city clean?

K.J. Sohan, former mayor and the most senior official in the Cochin Corporation says, with a tad bit of disillusionment, on the way the subject is raked up annually as a one-time affair. “Though October 2 has come to be associated with sanitation, cleaning of public spaces should not be a ritual.” He talks about the Corporation’s dogged attempts at putting systems in place so that waste management becomes a smooth affair. “The existing system, brought about in the last ten years, has succeeded in door-to-door collection of segregated waste from 80 per cent of the households. The next step is to iron out the supply-chain, where the waste should go to the disposal yard. Then its processing has to be perfected and we do have good equipment.”

Kochi is relatively cleaner than most Indian cities but Mayor Tony Chammany says more needs to be done. “ The Health Department of the Corporation is responsible for the maintenance of public spaces. But the public also needs to play a much more important role.

I believe that the mind-set of the people should change. Every citizen must consider the city to be their own, their own home. You can have all the manpower and equipment, the Corporation can do its best, but if changes are to really manifest the public should become more aware.”

The Mayor understands that there are certain hotspots in the city that need immediate attention and if he could pick one such place it would be the KSRTC bus stand and its environs. “The bus stand and the area surrounding the Ambedkar Stadium are really bad and we consider it top priority in our cleaning initiatives.” Adding to the spots mentioned by the Mayor, Ernakulam MLA Hibi Eden adds the Ernakulam Boat Jetty, the Subhash Park, the High Court Junction, Fort Kochi beach and the North and South Railway Stations. He says, “First, we need to provide the infrastructure, some as basic as toilets and waste bins. Then comes maintenance and follow-up.”

A top tourist official who did not want to be named says that despite the department of tourism allotting funds from its clean destination mission the cleaning and maintenance of the Ernakulam boat jetty is still ineffective. He notes that domestic tourists care two hoots for hygiene and cleanliness. “They often spit, leave behind food waste, before boarding the ferry. We have our limitations in enforcing rules on tourists. We have decided to put up sign boards in English, Malayalam and Hindi urging them to keep the premises clean.”

GCDA Chairman N. Venugopal agrees and he explains that despite dustbins and signboards posted on the Marine Drive walkway, plastic refuse continues to be a problem. “We have many sanitation systems in place, such as sewage treatment facilities and pay-to-use washrooms at Marine Drive and the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium. However, Marine Drive is a six acre stretch and while we can maintain the walkway, public spaces like the stadium and Marine Drive ground are not the same.”

Venugopal says that the GCDA often has to let out the stadium and Marine Drive ground for government functions without charging a security deposit, leaving them without the resources to deal with the refuse left after such functions. However, he clarifies that the latest executive committee meeting has decreed that a deposit be charged for all functions, which will be used for cleaning if the event organisers do not maintain the venue.

Venugopal says that many opportunities are sidelined for trivial reasons, “There are many private firms offering to help with cleaning public spaces in return for being able to advertise there, but this is always met with opposition from various sections of society.”

He says that the only long- term solution for the cleanliness problem is to educate people.

“There should be programmes right from the school level on the importance of keeping one’s city clean and practices to be followed for waste disposal.”

“Cleaning up the city has to be a concerted effort by the administration and the public,” says Hibi, who is currently working towards making the Goshree Road, a beautiful waterfront, a model plastic-free road.

Along with the Corporation, the tourism department, the Indian Navy, the Coast Guard and Kudumbashree outfits have worked tirelessly to keep Kochi clean. It is time now for the Kochiite to take up the cudgels of cleanliness individually, perhaps time to take the pledge and the plunge.

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