KANNUR: Kolayad grama panchayat of Kannur district has bagged the award for the best biodiversity panchayat in the state for its projects to conserve biodiversity and safe disposal of plastic wastes. All these projects are coordinated by a committee which is chaired by the president of the gram panchayath. Speaking to DC, Suresh Kumar K.P, president, Kolayad gram panchayat, said that for the last four years, they had been working on the conservation of biodiversity and disposal of plastic waste. “At present the panchayat is on a mission called ‘Mega Cleaning’ where people collectively work to remove unused plastic items from their households and shops.” “Apart from the disposal of plastic wastes, we also initiate activities to promote afforestation with the help of the Social Forestry wing,” he added. There are 14 wards in the panchayat and in each ward, there is a team of volunteers named Haritakarma Sena.
“These volunteers do a great job in collecting plastic waste from the houses and educating villagers about the harmful effects of plastic,” says Suresh. The volunteers of Haritakarma Sena work under the project ‘Thelima’. The panchayat has launched a project ‘Malinyamillata Mangalyam’ in coordination with Haritha Keralam Mission of the state government, with an objective to reduce the use of plastic in functions like marriages where more than 100 people participate. “Initially we had laid down all the norms of the mission through gramasabhas. Those who violated these norms have been fined,” says panchayat vice-president Valsa Olikuzhiyil. Kolayad Panchayat has also ventured into a bamboo park in an area of 80 acres where they plan to cultivate different medicinal plants.
