KOCHI:Angamaly town in Ernakulam district is in an attempt to prove the maxim that development does not mean you don’t demolish certain things, but to do away with certain age-old practises. The town will soon remould its avenues and streets by adopting the clean and green city mantra adopted by the Sri Lankan capital city Colombo, which is currently one of the top must-visit tourist destinations in the world.
Speaking to ‘Express,’ Benny Munjeli, chairman of Angamlaly Municipality, said the civic body will send a delegation to Colombo in response to an invitation thrown by Sri Lankan Food Security Minister Gamini Jayawickrama Perera to study the clean and green city programmes of Colombo which reshaped the avenues of the war-torn city in a record time, attracting thousands of shoppers, adventurers, vacationers and itinerant travellers to this emerald droplet in the Indian Ocean.
The minister during his visit to the municipality last week offered to share the knowhow of its waste disposal plants in the city, which was an eyesore a few years ago but later transformed into one of the cleanest greenest cities in the region in record time under a Rs 700-million project undertaken by the civic administration. Besides, the sanitary facilities, the functioning of various clean city programmes, and above all the severe penalties and punitive measures meted out to its citizen for littering the waste on streets will be copied here after customising them to suit our requirements, said Munjeli.
He added that the council meeting to be held on Wednesday will decide the composition of the delegation and hand over a formal request to the consular head in Sri Lanka for completing the formalities ahead of the tour.
The Minister during his visit to Kerala had also proposed collaboration in a slew of areas of food and civil supplies between Sri Lanka and Kerala, which included student exchange programmes, training modules for government officials on both sides and investment promotion.
The municipality which is struggling to find a lasting solution to the waste disposal will benefit from the tourist destination, where an unwanted leaf or plastic carry bag cannot be seen in public avenues, said municipal officials.
Green Twinning
■ The town will adopt the Sri Lankan capital city Colombo, which is currently one of the top must-visit tourist destinations in the world
■ The civic body will send a delegation to Colombo to study the clean and green city programmes of Colombo
■ The visit is in response to an invitation given by Sri Lankan Food Security Minister Gamini Jayawickrama Perera
■ The minister has offered to share the knowhow of its waste disposal plants