Zero Waste Project makes zero progress

KOCHI: At a time when the residents of Fort Kochi are choked with the garbage heaps, the Corporation is sitting over Rs 17.20 lakh sent to the local body as a part of the payment for its implementation.The Rs 43-lakh Fort Kochi Zero Waste project was announced by the Corporation with much fanfare about an year ago, while the local body has not released the amount to carry forward the  project. The much-favoured global tourism destination,  Fort Kochi generates huge amount of waste,  including plastic owing to the large number of foreign and domestic tourists visiting the area. The project was floated with the intention of finding a solution to dispose of the waste. A joint initiative of Kerala Tourism Department, State Kudumbashree Mission and the Corporation of Cochin, the project aims to segregate, collect and treat waste in divisions 1 and 27 of the Corporation with the help of residents, shop owners and visitors.  The Tourism Department had sent `17.20 lakh to the Kudumbashree which had rerouted it to the Corporation Secretary, sources said. Painfully, the Kudumbashree unit at West Kochi has completed several works in connection with implementing the work.Training work, tenders work for purchase of implements, appointment of assistant, committees at residential level have been formed. For this, the Kudumbashree has used its own funds even as the funds dedicated for the project lay with the Corporation. The sources in Kudumbashree said nothing more could be done without getting funds from the Corporation.Efforts to contact corporation secretary did not yield any result. The Kudumbashree has several roles to play in the implementation of the project.They include, collection of waste, beautification, recycling and shredding units among others.Surprisingly, the local councillor Antony Kureethara is not aware of the fund sent to the local body about an year ago. He said that 13 meetings were held in connection with the project. Under the programme, domestic waste would be processed at houses using vermi-composting and aerobic composting, with the help of residents’ associations. Coconut shells would be collected and used for making handicraft and newspapers for making paper bags, while bottles would be cleaned and used to store liquids like floor cleaners.