THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The city corporation has commenced its month-long pre-monsoon sanitation drive at several wards in its jurisdiction on Wednesday. The health and sanitation workers were already engaged in door-to-door programme to prevent major disease outbreak in the district due to the summer showers. The civic body has set aside Rs 1 crore from its People Plan Fund for the pre-monsoon sanitation drive.
On Wednesday, the Suchitwa health committee chaired by the respective ward councillors were convened in 80 wards. The committee had prepared the cleanliness action plan based on which it has began the cleaning drive by unclogging the drains in the respective wards. Due to absence of the councillors, no meeting was held in rest of the 20 wards. Mayor V K Prasanth has informed the specific health inspectors and junior health inspectors to convene the committee in the absence of the ward councillors and begin the drive within two days.
Cleaning has begun in wards including Kadakampally, Medical College, Sreekanteswaram and Sreekaryam. "For the first time, the Corporation has included the cleaning of two major canals in the city - Parvathi Puthannaar and Aamayizhanjan thodu with its pre-monsoon drive," said corporation health supervisor T Alexander. An amount of Rs 1.25 lakh will be distributed in each ward as part of the cleaning drive, of which Rs 1 lakh is part of the corporation's People Plan Fund project and Rs 25, 000 is the extra amount shared by the government (Rs 10,000), Suchitwa Mission (Rs 10,000) and the corporation (Rs 5,000), he said.
The corporation's junior health inspectors (JHI) are responsible for organising of the drive in each ward. The health inspectors are in-charge of heading each circle and the three health supervisors are responsible in administrating their respective zones. The JHI's are responsible to submit the daily reports of the cleaning activities being carried on their respective wards to the local body project secretariat.
Other cleaning activities
The other activities include cleaning government and private organisations, shops, marriage halls, clubs, markets and public places. Followed by the segregation of garbages: Glass, plastic and other non-biodegradable materials will be held. Mass fogging will be held according to the case reports. The city corporation will observe dry day wherein it will conduct mosquito reduction activities including draining of eggshells, tyres, sunshades, bottles and coconut shells. The awareness programmes on the importance of observing dry day will be held during these days with the help of NSS volunteers, youth organisations, representatives from the health department, Anganwadi and Kudumbashree.