Kamal’s party gets into ‘clean-up’ act in run-up to civic body elections

MNM workers took up to cleaning of streets at Ponnambalam Salai, KK Nagar, on Sunday while they cleaned Devikarumari Theatre Street and Virugambakkam market on Saturday.

Kameela Nasser, executive committee member and Chennai Zone in-charge of the MNM said that such civic works help establish contact with the general public ahead of the local body polls.

“We are planning to take up such cleaning works across all the divisions of the Greater Chennai Corporation. We not only clean up the streets but also create awareness on segregating the wastes. We also educate the sanitary workers on the need to wear gloves and mask while handling garbage. We provided a pair of gloves and a mask to the workers,”she said.

She, however, said that since September last year, her party has been taking such activities to reach out to the public.

As the city faces acute water shortage, she said they are also planning to educate the public on the importance of rainwater harvesting. “We are thinking of constructing a model rainwater harvesting structure at a house in every street free of charge. It won’t cost much. We have an office-bearer for every four streets,” she said, adding that once the works were completed, they would keep a small board declaring that the house has an RWH structure and it was done by the MNM.

Even though the MNM failed to win any seat in the Lok Sabha polls, it managed to poll 3.72 per cent of the total votes polled and finished third in a dozen seats. The party’s candidates performed better in the urban and semi-urban constituencies.

A senior party functionary said that Kamal would be chairing a brainstorming session in the comingweek to take stock of the local body elections preparation. “We will devise strategies for the ensuing polls in the meet,” the functionary said, adding that the civic polls would provide an opportunity to strengthen the party across the state and reach out to the people at grassroots level.