KOCHI: When shopkeepers at Fort Kochi came to open their shops last Friday, they witnessed a different scene. For a region like Fort Kochi, filth and dirt are nothing new, but having it cleaned by a massive group of 600 people was a jaw-dropping sight.
The year-long cleanliness drive inaugurated at Fort Kochi that day is a joint initiative of District Tourism Promotion Council, Kochi Corporation and hoteliers. The drive is a first-of-its-kind in which corporates have joined hands with the district administration and the City Corporation keeping tourism as the heart of the cause.
The group that initiated such a massive drive at Fort Kochi is the Kerala Tourism Mart (KTM), which has been able to attract nearly all the corporate bodies and hotel chains that benefit greatly from tourism in the area.
Says Abraham George, president, KTM, “Every year, on some specific day, there is a cleanliness drive, that is fast forgotten. We wanted to do something different, so that is how we came up with the idea of involving the tourism industry to clean up a prominent tourist destination. The drive is part of the Clean Kerala programme under a new initiative by Kerala Tourism, ‘Visit Kerala 2015’. A drive of such a massive scale is not possible without the backing of the local public, the Kochi Corporation, district administration and the Tourism Department, so we managed to convene a meeting of all the bodies and formed a core committee before executing this drive.”
George also said out that their next move would be starting a moment called ‘Greenizen’ and that the main objective of the cleanliness drive ‘’is to spread awareness about making Fort Kochi clean.’’
Around 600 people participated in the drive who also included the staff of prominent hotels, owners of homestays in Fort Kochi, 62 Corporation staff, a few local people and even some foreign tourists. The drive focused on areas from Aspinwall House to River Road and also included the beach walkway. The volunteers were divided into groups of 12 with 50 people each and were directed to clean 12 zones.
According to Jose Dominic, Managing Director, CGH Earth, “This is just a pilot project, the real work is only going to start. When it comes to such cleanliness drives, everyone is cynical, which is why we never saw the participation of corporates in something like this in Kerala before. If we put a little more effort, all the cynicism will go away.”
Explaining about the next step, he says, “Now, we are going to sit with the municipal officials and go into the details of this drive and will put together a system. It is a step-by-step process.”