Kallakudi municipality located near Trichy has recently received the award for the best municipality by Chief Minister MK Stalin. We came to be known that it has a village called Dalmiapuram, the site of the Dalmia Cement Plant, where Miyawaki forest is being established and maintained on behalf of the municipality to control much of the pollution that occurs in and around the area due to the cement plant. Miyawaki forests are wholly organic.
The urban forest is being developed using the Miyawaki technique, pioneered by Japanese botanist Dr Akira Miyawaki, in which area-specific native species are planted close to each other so that they grow faster and protect the environment. The saplings planted using this technique grow 10 times faster and are 100 times more bio-diverse.
Meanwhile, the garbage collected at doorsteps is graded and taken to natural compost. In this regard, through the solid waste management scheme provided by the government, battery auto has been provided for garbage collection at an estimated cost of Rs 1,20,000. However, this auto has to be charged for 5 hours a day.
To make it easier for the sanitation staff, Zakul Hameed, the current Municipal Executive Officer, focused to save electricity and equipped the battery vehicle with a solar panel for Rs 60,000. This saved on electricity costs and eliminated time wastage.
