Jayalalithaa makes clean sweep of Chennai

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Chennai will be much cleaner in just three months, chief minister Ms Jayalalithaa has promised.

She had undertaken an aerial survey of the metropolis and its suburbs by a helicopter on Friday and was obviously distressed by the filth she saw — garbage dumps, stagnant drainage and rain water amid residential areas, particularly in Perungudi in the south and Kodungaiyur in the north.

Making a statement in the state Assembly on Monday, the chief minister said a ‘Mass Cleaning Programme’ would be launched to clean up Chennai of its filth in three months.

She recalled her helicopter ride to see for herself how unclean and unhygienic the city was.

She said she had now initiated a ‘mass cleaning programme’ for providing clean living environment for the Chennai residents and to begin with, efforts would be made to remove all the garbage dumps and clean up the stagnant waters in and around the city within three months.

Her government was committed to ensure clean and hygienic living for the people of the state and this was reflected even in the Governor’s Address in the House wherein an elaborate solid waste management scheme had been mentioned and a budgetary announcement too was made last week.

Chennaiites have welcomed the chief minister’s statement, though some did express apprehension whether it would be possible to deliver.

“This is a welcome announcement from the CM but the question remains as to what happens in the longer run. Clean-up means shifting garbage from one place to another and that is a very unjust way of dealing with trash,” environmentalist Nityanand Jayaraman said.

“It will be great if the CM delivers some system by which garbage can be handled in a decentralized manner, so that the communities do not suffer by other people’s garbage dumped on them by trucks”, he told Deccan Chronicle.

Jaya to abide by SC verdict

Allaying apprehensions over the implementation of uniform system of school education, chief minister J. Jayalalithaa on Monday informed that Assembly that the state government would abide by the Supreme Court’s order on samacheer kalvi.

“We have moved the Supreme Court and are waiting for the orders. We are expecting the verdict to be pronounced any moment. Once the court delivers its order, the state will abide by it,” Ms Jayalalithaa said.