As part of the ‘Kerala Waste-free Destination’ initiative, the Tourism Department will organise a cleanliness campaign in select 60 tourist destinations of the state in the first week of October.
The campaign will include a cleanliness drive with the participation of the local bodies, NGOs, the tourism industry and other stake holders.
“We have identified the tourist destinations in every district. During the campaign, cleanliness drives and awareness programmes will be held. As a precursor to the drive, a workshop will be conducted at the district-level for all the stakeholders. Separate volunteers will also be employed for the campaign,” said Rani George, Director of Tourism.
The ‘Tourism & Sustainable Energy: Powering Sustainable Development’ workshop prior to the cleanliness campaign is expected to be held on the World Tourism Day falling on September 27.The government has already given the administrative sanction for the Tourism Department’s project to make Kovalam garbage-free under the KWFD campaign. The programme, which looks at the comprehensive waste collection and disposal from the household-level to the community-level is a pilot project under the campaign.
“This will be a pilot project. The government has already sanctioned the funds and the work will begin in a few weeks’ time.
Under the programme carried out with the assistance of the Suchitwa Mission, waste management has been subsidised at every level. A plastic waste shredder will be also established at Kovalam. We will extend the project to other parts of the state in the coming months,” said Tourism Minister A P Anil Kumar.
The tourist destinations in line for similar waste management projects are Munnar and Kumarakom.