Kerala Tourism is gearing up to collect biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste from 79 tourism destinations across the State at regular intervals.
To be executed under ‘Project Green Grass’ through Clean Kerala Company and agencies empanelled by the Suchitwa Mission, the Government has given the administrative sanction to Kerala Tourism for spending ₹4.79 crore this fiscal for the project aimed at keeping the 79 tourist destinations clean.
“We have selected two Non-Government Organisations from the empanelled agencies and the preliminary works have commenced. We hope to complete the work by June 2020,” Director of Tourism P. Bala Kiran told The Hindu.
The selected agencies will be given one-year contract to transport non-biodegradable waste from the tourist destinations to material recovery facilities (MRFs) and resource recovery centres (RRCs) of the Clean Kerala Company.
The tourist destinations
Of the 79 tourist destinations, 11 are in Thiruvananthapuram district, nine in Kollam, eight in Ernakulam, seven each in Idukki and Thrissur, six in Wayanad, five each in Palakkad, Kozhikode and Kannur, four each in Pathanamthitta and Malappuram, three each in Kottayam and Kasaragod, and two in Alappuzha district.
Under the project, each of the 79 tourist destination will get ₹5.96 lakh for execution of the waste management scheme. Collection bins will be placed inside chosen destinations for managing non-biodegradable waste, besides setting up two collection booths.
From the second year onwards, the District Tourism Promotion Councils (DTPCs) will have to bear the project cost of the waste management scheme of these tourist destinations. For taking the project forward after the initial year, training will be imparted to the department personnel and the DTPC personnel.
Green Grass project
The waste management scheme has been worked out on the basis of the Green Grass initiated by the Government to clear the waste on Ernakulam-Munnar corridor frequented by large number of tourists. Later, it was extended to the PWD roads and the roads in the forest area. Kerala Tourism had already spend ₹1.5 crore for cleaning the waste in the Munar-Idukki belt.
