From dry days to a clean city

KOCHI: The Kochi Corporation will observe ‘dry day’ to encourage the city residents to keep their houses and premises ‘dry’. The civic body has already given instructions to the ward committees in various divisions to decide the day to be observed as ‘dry day’ in their wards.Mayor Tony Chammany said that the move to observe ‘dry day’ is part of the Corporation’s pre-monsoon cleaning efforts.“We mainly want to prevent the residents from piling up degradable and other waste materials on the premises of their houses. These materials will easily get decayed during the rainy season and will be a breeding ground for mosquitoes,” Mayor Tony Chammany said.He said that the respective councillors of each division will decide the date for observing dry days in their wards. “The civic body will also organise homoeo medical camps in all the 74 divisions of the Corporation. The main aim of the camp is to supply preventive medicines to check the spread of contagious diseases during the monsoon,” the Mayor said.To prevent waterlogging during the monsoon, the Corporation will also form a 25-member squad.“A 25-member squad under the Health Standing Committee of the Corporation will be formed. In case of waterlogging, the residents in the area can contact the special squad which will immediately take steps to clear it,” the Mayor said.About the pre-monsoon cleaning of canals, the Mayor said that the de-clogging of drains and removal of silt from canals in the 74 divisions under the Kochi Corporation is progressing.“The cleaning of small canals in various divisions is over. The major canal cleaning works were tendered earlier. The de-silting of small drains is also progressing,” he said.The Mayor said that most of the city drains have been de-clogged. “We are also planning to seek the cooperation of various stakeholder agencies to coordinate the cleaning work during the monsoon,” he said.