THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The grama panchayats in the six districts which were the worst hit by the floods are getting back to normalcy with a full-fledged cleaning operation underway. The cleaning drive was launched with the involvement of the employees of the Panchayat Department, NGOs and district administrations of Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Thrissur, Ernakulam and Wayanad.
As many as 15,715 squads have been deployed for the cleaning operations. Of the 387 grama panchayats in the six districts, 350 suffered severely in the floods. Of the 5,43,422 houses damaged by the floods, cleaning operations have been carried out in 3,79,003 houses. These houses have been made fit to live in by the cleaning squads. A total of 4,649 public buildings and 2,24,855 wells have been affected.
In all, 10,864 animal and 3,88,681 bird carcasses have been disposed of. 1,489 tonnes of organic waste has been treated while 2,247 tonnes of inorganic waste was collected. The department is also involved in disinfecting the households and premises in these grama panchayats.
Business to resume soon
The grama panchayat offices whose operations have been hit by the recent floods will soon start functioning. Panchayat director M P Ajith Kumar has issued an order to start the functioning of the offices by renting out electronic equipment. A total of 36-grama panchayat offices have been affected by the floods in the state. The functioning of these offices has been hit with documents and equipment getting damaged. The offices have been directed to take electronic equipment such as the laptop, printer, photocopier, scanner on rent and start their operations.