At a seminar organised by the AKG Centre for Study and Research Saturday, the CPM announced it would take up “comprehensive garbage management as a new mission for a healthy environment, healthy life”. With waste disposal at source as the theme, the seminar discussed models particularly the “clean house, clean city’’ project currently under way in wards of Alappuzha, held by the CPM. Under the scheme, biogas plants are installed in houses and institutions for processing biodegradable waste. “Party-affiliated organisations, their members, and representatives in various local bodies as well as experts will be part of the drive for the management of the waste at source,” said CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan. Though mounds of garbage line streets across cities in Kerala, the CPM did not attack the Congress-led government at the seminar. Vijayan said “there was no politics” in the new task on the ground. Another drive launched by the CPM is that of palliative care. Last week, the party opened its first palliative care centre in Kannur district. The centre was opened under the banner of Initiative for Rehabilitation and Palliative Care (IRPC), which has CPM district secretary P Jayarajan as chief patron. The palliative care centre is now treating 25 bed-ridden people. “Treatment and accommodation are free. We will find resources from public. Although CPM has formed the centre centre, we will give palliative care for all needy people, irrespective of their political affiliation,’’ says Jayarajan. The IRPC has already trained 1,800 volunteers in Kannur district. It has plans to start a new rehabilitation centre in Kannur. Each volunteer has contributed Rs 100 towards the maintenance of the care centre. The volunteers were trained with the support of the health and local bodies departments. The volunteers would go to homes to give care for the needy.
