District unit of party to launch drive at three places on Thursday.

Leader of the Opposition V.S Achuthanandan will participate in the clean city campaign to be launched by the district unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Saturday.

Briefing reporters about the campaign here on Wednesday, party district secretary Kadakampally Surendran said the Opposition leader would visit Jagathy, Medical College, and Erumakuzhi, the three main places in the city where party volunteers would gather for the cleaning-up exercise.

CPI(M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan will spearhead the campaign at Jagathy where the party has decided to deploy around 500 volunteers.

Deputy Leader of the Opposition Kodiyeri Balakrishnan will lead the drive at Medical College, while the former Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac will oversee the campaign at Erumakuzhi.

The city Corporation will also deploy its workers at Erumakuzhi for the cleaning campaign.

Minister to take part



Minister for Health V.S Sivakumar has also agreed to participate in the drive there. The party will ensure that the campaign remains alive for the next six months so that the drive could yield considerable result, Mr Surendran pointed out.

Praising the efforts by the city Corporation, he said in spite of the closure of the Vilappilsala garbage yard, the civic body was able to manage the solid waste generated in the city.

The civic body had so far distributed 75,000 pipe-compost and 2,000 bio-gas plants to residents, he said. The civic body could have done better in managing waste if there was more support from the State government, he added.