At a time when waste management has become a challenge for the urban local bodies as well as other local panchayats, Alankar Gram Panchayat in Kadaba taluk of Dakshina Kannada is effectively managing the wet waste collected from households and other establishments.
The wet waste collected does not enter the landfill site in the Gram Panchayat. Instead, it is used for the coconut plantation with 250 coconut trees that the Gram Panchayat had planted on its 2.5 acre-land in the GP jurisdiction.
The coconut plants have grown well after the Gram Panchayat decided to use the wet waste on it. The wet waste gets mixed in the soil and gets converted into manure in the soil itself, said Gram Panchayat PDO Jagannath Shetty to DH.
“We are not facing the problem of a staunch smell emanating from the wet waste,” he said.
The coconut trees are two years old now and are likely to start giving the yield next year, which in turn will help the Gram Panchayat to fetch income as well, he added.
Initially, the waste management unit of the Gram Panchayat was maintained by the GP. Now, it is handed over to Sanjeevini Okkuta for maintenance. The members of the Okkuta collect the waste from urban areas once a week and dry waste from interior areas once a month, he said.
The households in the interior villages dispose of the wet waste generated by them on their own. About 500 kg of wet waste is collected from the urban areas in the Gram Panchayat jurisdiction once a week, while 250 kg of dry waste is collected once a week from urban and rural areas, said the PDO.
The PDO said that with the guidance of Gram Panchayat president Sadananda Acharya and the members, waste management is taken up effectively.
The dry waste is segregated at the waste management unit and is stored to be handed over to the scrap dealers, he added.
A labourer appointed by the Gram Panchayat maintains the coconut plantation daily. The coconut plantation has its own irrigation facility through a borewell, he said.
“The remaining wet waste after being used in the plantation, is treated at the vermicompost unit and manure is sold, generating income for the panchayat,” said the PDO.
The initiative of waste management was implemented by the previous administration of the Gram Panchayat and is continued by the present body, he said.
Further, percolation pits too have been dug in the coconut plantation. The Sanjeevini Okkuta members have planted jasmine plants and also fruit-bearing saplings under Amruta Yojana. The manure prepared is also applied to these plants, added Jagannath Shetty.
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