A clean and green Thoothukudi in the making

Thoothukudi Mayor discusses green initiatives, waste management, and urban development for a cleaner, sustainable future with The Hindu.

Thoothukudi Mayor Jegan Periyasamy, in an interview with The Hindu, shares updates on green initiatives, waste management and urban development highlighting the city’s move toward a cleaner and more sustainable future with Shankari Nivethitha.

SN: Thoothukudi has recently seen a number of green initiatives, including parks, mini forests and partnership with the U.K. government for carbon neutral planning. Do these efforts benefit the public in the long run?

Mayor: Yes. We have been taking strong steps towards making Thoothukudi a greener and more sustainable city. We are focusing on developing parks, creating mini forests and expanding green cover across the city. One of the major steps is our recent MoU with the UK government under the PACT-Digi-PULSE project. It helps us reduce green gas emission and improve our climate resilience. It was officially launched on April 1 and will span 20 months during which several initiatives will be implemented and assessed. In the long run, these green spaces will not only help improve air quality andr control urban heat, but they will also offer better living conditions for people.

SN: Thoothukudi has repeatedly faced issues with waterlogging during monsoon season. What measures have been made to avert it?

Mayor: Thoothukudi has 60 wards and four years ago water stagnation was a problem in every one of them during monsoons. When the present government assumed office, addressing this issue became the top priority. Since then, we have seen remarkable improvement. Today, only wards 16,17 and 18 face major waterlogging issues, primarily because of large vacant lands in those areas. We have already engaged with landowners, urging them to cover or maintain their plots properly. Compared to previous years, the situation has improved drastically and we expect the upcoming monsoon to reflect the progress we made.

SN: Solid waste management seems to be getting more attention now. What steps are being taken to improve it?

Mayor: We are currently collecting around 180 tonnes of waste daily. Households and shops are being instructed to segregate waste properly at the source. We producing organic fertilizer from the waste and distribute it to farmers, while non biodegradable plastics are sent to cement factories for reuse. We also have an initiative underway, proposed by our MP Kanimzohi Karunanidhi, which focuses on recycling waste clothes. These steps are all part of our broader mission to keep Thoothukudi clean, efficient and sustainable.