350 odd families from ward eight of Chicalim village have come together to set up a unique and vibrant community, unlike any other to tackle the garbage menace in the area. Because of their efforts, not only was their ward announced as the model village ward for its cleanliness drive that kick started about eight years ago, but today, the area has remained 100 per cent garbage free and environmentally friendly. It is the cleanest ward in Chicalim village panchayat.
All this would have been impossible, had panch member Francis Nunes not put a little extra effort into creating awareness among the residents and then bringing all of them under one umbrella who desired to have a clean and green environment to live in. “When I started working on door to door garbage collection, I had to face severe hardships, as initially people were reluctant to segregate their waste. They would ask the labour to do the segregation. But we worked with the motto that nothing is impossible and hence I first started creating an awareness from house to house. Following that, we became strict and refused to collect non-segregated waste given by people. Following that, they slowly began to realize the need to segregate and today, we work like one big family to maintain the cleanliness of the ward,” he said.
The system of garbage collection in this ward is also unique and systematically managed. The door to door collection is managed by six labourers. They start at 8am and by 10.30 am, they complete the work and then proceed to other wards. The afternoon is spent segregating the dry waste.
“On different days, we collect different types of garbage. Wet waste is, of course collected daily, but dry waste is collected only on Tuesdays and Fridays. This has been going on successfully for three years. The people are cooperative in our ward,” Nunes chirped.
He went on to add, “After collection of garbage, these labourers then assemble at the segregation unit near Mormugao Industrial estate and then all the dry waste gets further sorted. The money collected from recyclable items is used to purchase dustbins.”
What makes their initiative different is the manner in which the residents encourage all those who actually do the ground work – the labourers, cleanliness supervisors and government department officials from the PWD and power department. Every year, the residents of the ward organize a felicitation programme for all those involved in rendering their services and for maintaining the cleanliness of the ward.
On May 1st, every year, residents join in and organize a cultural programmed to encourage and express their gratitude.
Apart from maintaining cleanliness, the residents have been taking a due interest in growing more trees. “While we have been putting in efforts to stay clean, we decided to also focus on planting more trees in our ward every year with the active participation of the younger generation. Today, we have achieved success, having planted saplings by the sides of most internal roads. All these trees are adopted by students who look after them till they reach a good age,” Nunes informed.
