CHENNAI: In an effort to boost awareness about garbage segregation and the adverse effects of disposable plastics on the environment, about 300 school children of Cantonment Board High School, Pallavaram took the message to streets as part of a rally here on Tuesday.The one-hour rally that took off from Cantonment Board High School covered the surrounding areas of Shandy road, Sreenivasaperumal Koil street, Mariamman Koil street, Bazaar road, Mosque street, Bajana Koil street and RC Church road. It was an initiative of the St Thomas Mount cum Pallavaram Cantonment office and the NGO, Hand in Hand that is involved in garbage segregation in the area, to encourage the residents to adhere to garbage segregation and conserving the environment.The garbage segregation initiative that began in December 2009 covers about 6,000 households in Pallavaram, according to Health Superintendent of the Cantonment Board, Peter Thurairaj.The rally is the Cantonment Board’s initiative to increase awareness about the garbage segregation programme and encourage residents to help the Hand-in Hand workers to perform their duty effectively, he added.In addition, the Cantonment board office also hopes to create awareness about the ban on use of polythene less than 20 microns in size in areas under its jurisdiction.“The ban will be strictly implemented in the area. Shop keepers and other retail establishments that distribute or sell polythene bags less than 20 microns will be fined and legal action will be taken against those who continue to violate the ban”, stated Peter Thurairaj. “The rally will also focus on encouraging residents to use jute bags or cloth bags and avoid the use of polythene bags.” According to Shiva T Krishnamoorthy, Project Director, Hand in Hand, about 33 workers were involved in collecting garbage in the households from 6.30am to 1pm in the first phase of the programme. As part of the initiative to support the local body to implement garbage segregation as per MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) management guidelines, residents are allotted two colour-coded dustbins. Red for non-bio degradable waste and green for bio-degradable waste that are collected by the workers, who are deputed to collect the waste in tri-cycles. Each worker is responsible for collecting garbage from 100 households, he said.“Now we have a total of 122 workers for the door-to door segregation programme for collecting the waste to cover more households,” he added. Speaking to the City Express on the sidelines of the rally, the CEO of Cantonment Board Vijay Bhaskar said that a vermi compost plant will soon be established near Dhoby Ghat area in Pallavaram, on the lines of the vermicompost plant in Nazarathpuram, St Thomas Mount, for decentralised management of biodegradable waste.The elected members of the Cantonment board, J Boopalan, K Ravi and P Navarathan took part in the awareness rally in which children distributed pamphlets and shouted slogans to create awareness.
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