THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A team of 400 volunteers will leave for Malappuram from the district panchayat on Monday. The team will focus on cleaning works and will also take cleaning equipment with them.
Staff from Karakulam, Mangalapuram, Panavoor, Poovachal, Kattakada and Pullampara panchayats will be part of the team apart from the district panchayat staff.
The district panchayat was able to collect about 70 loads of relief materials to be sent to the camps. Earlier plans to send teams from here were scrapped because of safety advice from officials in the flood-hit regions.
Over 50 loads of relief materials were sent from the district panchayat office to various flood-hit areas in the state including Wayanad, Malappuram and Kozhikode.
Apart from the collection point in the district panchayat office in Pattom, relief materials were collected from 73 panchayats and 11 block panchayats in the district. Twenty more loads of materials were moved to the collection centre in SMV school where the district administration has a relief material collection camp.
“We saw a limitless supply of resources from people in the past few days.
Apart from bringing materials, over 1600 volunteers showed up to help us in our efforts. There are 84 Kudumbashree CDS in the district. They all brought contributions to the camp here. Many artists were also here. We would like to thank all the people who contributed. The collection here concludes now. After the first team leaves, we are also setting up another group of volunteers from other panchayats. If necessary, more teams will go for relief and rehabilitation work,” said V K Madhu, district panchayat president.
Mithram
Mithram is a project envisioned by the district panchayat to create an emergency response team in case of any natural calamities or emergencies. The project was set up in the wake of the flood last year and is also part of the district panchayat’s plan for the year. “We will be collaborating with the disaster management authority and 400 volunteers will be trained to be part of the team. They will undergo intensive training for three months and will be ready to deal with all situations from a fire breakout to flood. We cannot afford another disaster, need to be proactive,” said V K Madhu.