Samuthirakani among civic body’s 4 Swachh ambassadors

Madurai: The city corporation on Monday unravelled its four Swachh ambassadors in the run-up to the pan-India cleanliness survey. Actor and director of Nadodigal fame, P Samuthirakani, orator and actor G Gnanasambandan, standup comedian Madurai Muthu and Radio Mirchi’s RJ Ramana were introduced at a function held here on Monday. The participants, whose role will be to motivate the city residents, were also briefed about the upcoming ‘Swachh Survekshan 2018’.

The city was placed 57th in the previous Swachh Survekshan which saw Trichy landing the top position in the state. The civic body intends to use the ambassadors’ services to help bag the top position in the survey. Addressing the event, Samuthirakani said that he was ready to participate in events for the purpose. He rued that the trash in the backyards which was used as manure had changed with the advent of plastic. “I feel that the next world war may be focused on food”, he quipped. He urged residents to protect natural resources so that they could be passed on to the next generation like how the ancestors kept them for us.

On his part, Gnanasambandan recalled that Madurai had mythological significance as Lord Shiva himself carried its soil on his shoulders in the Thiruvilayadal episode ‘Puttukku Man Sumantha Kathai’. Hence it was important that we kept it tidy, he said. “The sense of cleanliness should be in the individual’s behaviour itself and it should also be included in school syllabus to spur young minds”, he said..

City corporation commissioner Dr Aneesh Sekhar said that the city would be gearing up for Swachh Survekshan during the first two months of 2018. The central team will visit the city to undertake study of three parameters — infrastructure for managing garbage, direct observation of cleanliness and interaction with public. Madurai city generated 650 metric tonnes of garbage a day which is processed at Vellakkal yard and degradable garbage is turned into manure. Segregating the garbage at source by using differently coloured bins to deposit degradable and non-degradable trash would go a long way in helping the civic body to handle the garbage, he said.

The commissioner appealed to every resident of the city to become an ambassador of cleanliness by reusing, recycling and thus reducing waste generation. The current per capita generation of garbage per person was half a kilogram. “We are working towards reducing that half kilogram to bring down the garbage generation”, he said. As the city kept expanding and the population growing, dealing with waste management had become significant.

Senior officials from city corporation, school students and residential associations participated in the event. Prizes were given away to students and resident associations for various competitions conducted over Swachh Bharat initiatives.