Focus on promoting Green Friendly, Zero Waste Dasara; stakeholders from various fields attend the meeting at MCC

Mysore/Mysuru: Ahead of Nada Habba Mysuru Dasara, Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has decided to hold Swachhta Shramdaan on a big scale on Sept. 22, by undertaking various cleanliness initiatives, with the thrust on creating awareness simultaneously at all the 65 Wards in the city.

The focus is on inspiring people to celebrate Dasara festival in a green friendly manner, with the stress on promoting the concept of Zero Waste Dasara.

This was resolved during a meeting of stakeholders from different sectors, presided over by MCC Commissioner Ashaad-Ur-Rahman Shariff, organised at Old Council Hall of the MCC on Monday.

It was also opined during the meeting to not to restrict Swachhta Shramdaan for a day, but to continue it, by organising the cleanliness drives on any of the Sundays every month.

Addressing the meeting, after eliciting the opinions of representatives of various fields, MCC Commissioner Shariff said, it is possible to maintain cleanliness only with the coordination of various organisations and the public. The pros and cons related to various suggestions received during the meeting will be analysed before putting them into practice, he said.

Asserting that MCC has implemented various initiatives to keep the city clean, Shariff called for the cooperation of organisations and associations, by conducting Swachhta Shramdaan from the early morning hours of Sept. 22.

“Apart from cleanliness, awareness should also be created among the public about using cloth bags against plastic carry bags. By involving school and college children and youths in Swachhta Shramdan, further awareness should be created among the public to maintain cleanliness in a better                           manner,” he added.

The JCB, tipper owners, MCC contractors and various organisations should come together to ensure success of Swachhta Shramdaan. It is a mass cleaning drive, which we intend to keep in a perpetuating mode. Modalities will be chalked out to involve one or more organisations in each of the 65 Wards for Swachhta Shramdaan, said the MCC Commissioner.

Awareness should also be created about the importance of separating wet and dry waste at the source and practicing environmental friendly lifestyle.

Various suggestions were received at the meeting, and more prominent among them were; restricting the generation of bulk waste during mega events associated with Dasara, followed by restrictions on using plastic spoons and plates at Dasara Food Mela and focus on disposal of waste at the venues of Yuva Dasara, Yuva Sambhrama and other cultural programmes.

Mysuru District Hotel Owners Association President C. Narayanagowda, Mysore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) President K.B. Lingaraju, GSS Organisations Head D. Srihari, former President of Mysuru District Journalists Association C.K. Mahendra, MDJA General Secretary Dharmapura Narayana, Shobhana of Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP), Venkatesh of Clean Mysuru Foundation and members of various organisations and associations were present.

MCC Chief Health Officer Dr. Venkatesh, Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) Mruthyunjaya and others were present at the meeting.