When Firoz Berly and Arjun Shaji came home for Christmas holidays, they did much more than decorating the Christmas tree and singing carols.
First year students of National University of Advanced Legal studies, Kochi, they decided to focus on waste disposal, an issue that has been rocking the capital, and do a project on it as a part of their course.
They zeroed in on Kaniyakulam, a place in the Nalanchira ward in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, where 24 families falling in the BPL sector live.
They visited the region to find out why the waste disposal system was not functioning properly there. They also studied other issues like scarcity of drinking water, floods during rainfall, lack of drainage system and sanitation.
“With the help of Father Joye James of Loyola extension services we created a report and submitted it to the ward counselor. And with the help of women in the region who work in Kudambasree, we suggested different methods like landfills and recycling options,” says Firoz Berly.
They held meetings with the residents to analyse the situation thoroughly. “Everybody was friendly and cooperative but we had a hard time collecting all the data,” he says.
