THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: More than 20 tonnes of biomedical and dry waste was generated on election day from various polling booths. Haritha Karma Sena members carted them away for scientific disposal. Party workers have also started removing campaigning materials, flex boards, posters etc from respective constituencies. The authorities had deployed Haritha Karma Sena members at every polling booth to handle dry waste, food waste and biomedical waste generated on election day.
An official of Suchitwa Mission said Ele-Traces (election tracking enabled system), an app-based solution, was used to track the movement of waste from polling booths. “The app was installed in mobile phones of Haritha Karma Sena members on duty and we live tracked to ensure that the waste generated was moved for scientific disposal,” said the official. In addition to the 2,736 polling booths, 1,428 additional booths were opened due to the pandemic.
The official said a control room was opened to coordinate the waste movement. “We tracked the movement of waste using the app from the control room. The team consisted of members from panchayat and corporation. We haven’t received any complaints regarding waste management. The workers started the clearing process at 7pm, when the polling got over and by 10.30pm they were able to clear the polling booths,” said the official.
Around 129 vehicles were used to move the waste from panchayats, 25 vehicles were used in the corporation areas. According to Suchitwa Mission officials, in some of the constituencies, the political parties haven’t removed campaign materials.
“We have noticed that the political parties are dumping the campaign materials in public places, byroads etc. In some of the constituencies, the workers are handling it better. We have decided to wait for a day and see how things go. We will give notices to election convenors of the political party to take necessary steps to dispose of campaign materials,” added the official.
The biomedical waste generated at the polling booths were handed over to IMAGE for scientific disposal. “The Haritha Karma Sena would hand over the biomedical waste to the nearest the PHC or CHC and they would hand it over to the IMAGE,” the official added.