Sulaja, a member of the Haritha Karma Sena (HKS) or Green Action Force in Kadinamkulam Grama Panchayat (GP) in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala is respected by her family and the village community and is financially independent, thanks to the invaluable services that she and her team provide to the management of solid waste, a service that has made her village visually clean.
Over the years, the spending capacity of her family has increased and she is able to carry out her duties without compromising on her responsibilities to her family. She and the other women in the task force enjoy a deeper sense of security and self-worth and feel responsible for making their village cleaner and greener.
Village background: Situated in the Pothencode Block, Kadinamkulam GP which is one of the most populated GPs in Thiruvananthapuram has 23 wards spread over 1988 hectors into the revenue villages of Kadinamkulam and Menamkulam. Twelve of its 23 wards share borders with the Arabian Sea, the area also enriched with other water bodies such as the Kadinamkulam and Parvathyputhanar lakes.
Challenges: Earlier, the local body with a heterogeneous population, and whose livelihood activities centred around fishing/allied activities and traditional industries, paid scant attention to waste disposal and its management, as that ranked low in their list of priorities. In this context, the survival of HKS – the agency entrusted by the GP to ensure 100 per cent door to door collection of waste was at risk, given the minimal co-operation from the coastal belts.
SBM-G Phase II: With the commencement of Phase II of the Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen (SBM-G), the need of the hour was solid and liquid waste management. In this context, an effort was taken by the local body to organise a HKS team as early as August 2021, although very few people were willing to join the same. The challenges multiplied over the next 2-3 months with people joining but leaving the force soon after, owing to wage stagnation. The total user fee collection for the month of December 2021 was just around Rs.36000.
Overcoming challenges: At that point of time, Sulaja was also working in a local shop that fetched Rs.6000/- per month. When she joined the HKS, her initial remuneration was merely Rs.1750. But she decided to stay back since she was badly in need of a job with flexible working hours. It was difficult to say the least, because she and the HKS team faced humiliation as people looked down on them. Moreover, there were delays in emptying of MCFs, increased use of plastic, and indiscriminate littering. Given the easy access to the sea and other water bodies only increased the habit of plastic littering, an aspect compounded by the minimal space for segregation in the Material Collection Facility.
Role of Village Extension Officer: The turnaround in their fortune is attributed to Ms. Ansa, a newly inducted village extension officer of Kadinamkulam GP who with her sincere efforts, timely response, and immediate grievance redressal helped improve the situation of the HKS women. She coordinated with the Kudumbasree and MGNREGA wings of the GP, ensuring uninterrupted supply of essentials needed to carry out their day-to-day activities. Her efforts extended to motivating the team, timely IEC activities, and monitoring of segregated waste collection from households and establishments.
The HKS currently operates 23 Mini Material Collection Facilities and through inadequately spaced, has its own e-vehicle for transportation of waste to the MCFs.
The GP has made tremendous progress in the collection and segregation of non-biodegradable waste over the past 6 months. All this has contributed to increasing the user fee collection from Rs.36,000 in December 2021 to Rs.3,23,100 by August 2022.
As for Sulaja and her team, things have improved, as also the attitude of people who are now approaching them for collection of their segregated waste.
Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) 