KOCHI: One of the most beautiful walkways in the city overlooking the backwaters of Kochi welcomes visitors with the sight of piled-up waste in green bags.
“With summer vacations arriving in the next two months, Kochi will witness a large number of tourists visiting Marine Drive. The waste stacks are the first thing they will see. I have taken up the issue with the officials, yet there has been no response,” says Ranjith Thampy, a social activist and regular visitor at Marine Drive.
He adds that despite several attempts to raise the issue with the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) and the city corporation, no action has been taken.
Meanwhile, GCDA officials claim that the stacked waste consists of segregated dry waste and that a private agency has been roped in to collect it once a week.
“The walkway is managed properly, and we have assigned a group of 13 Kudumbasree members for garbage collection. GCDA will soon sign an agreement with a private agency approved by the corporation for waste collection,” explains an official with the GCDA. “As of now, the agency collects waste once a week,” he says.
The GCDA is also planning to set up a compost pit for disposing of dry leaves and transporting non-segregated waste to cement factories. “There is a container placed near the entrance, and non-segregated waste is stacked inside. This waste has to be sent to a cement factory. Soon, we will rope in an agency,” the official says.
He adds that the GCDA has put in efforts to streamline waste management, and the private agency is tasked with collecting waste from the shops on the walkway as well.