Coimbatore :

The civic body began its Coimbatore Guinness Championship Campaign on Sunday to clean up the city. Despite facing a shortage of sanitary workers and push carts, the civic body officials roped in hundreds of volunteers and college students to go around the city collecting litter and promote source segregating.

The championship will begin on Wednesday after officials purchase push carts and begin to evaluate workers, said K Vijayakarthikeyan, corporation commissioner. The challenge will end on March 11, he added.

On Monday, officials inspected six wards and instructed sanitary workers to begin the championship. “Around 20 volunteers from NGOs have been allotted to each ward. Each zone will have a non-governmental organisation leading the effort. A team of sanitary inspectors and corporation officials will monitor them and evaluate their work.

“A jury will judge the best zone, best ward and best team,” said Suresh Bhandari, co-ordinator of Clean Cities Foundation.

Each ward would require at least 15 push carts but have been provided only seven push carts, said an official.

The civic body aims to create awareness about source segregation through this championship, as volunteers will go door to door to educate residents on segregating waste at source into three parts-wet, dry and hazardous. “The dry waste which is plastic waste will be weighed at collection centres such as ward offices and sold to companies. Workers will earn 4 per kg. The wet waste will be transported to Vellalore dump yard,” said Sri Rangaraj, sanitary inspector, central zone. Officials will evaluate every sanitary worker based on five criteria such as appearance, work skills, segregation, weighing and cleaning.

The volunteers have informed hotels, residents of apartments and other commercial complexes to segregate waste and hand it over to workers. “We have distributed around two lakh contest cards to school students who will get it signed by their parents. They will receive certificates from the corporation at the end of the championship,” said a higher official.

Registrations are taking place through a website and a missed call service-814436000-has been activated. As on Sunday evening, 2,500 residents had registered on the website and 300 had registered through the missed calls service. “We have already reached the two lakh mark so far. If the numbers increase, it will help us win with a bigger margin,” said Suresh.

On March 5, Dr Sanjay Gupta, coordinator of the Guinness Book of World records will visit the city to instruct them on the methodology. “Since the verification of two lakh contest cards will take a few weeks, we are hopeful that by the end of March, we will get the results and will enter the Guinness Book of world records,” added an official. While activists said that the championship was a gimmick to divert attention from the Vellalore dump yard issues, corporation officials maintained that they were planning to set up at least 15 segregation sheds after the championship ends.

“We will make sure that the drive continues even after the championship ends,” said a higher official.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore / TNN / March 03rd, 2015