K. Manikandan Useful option: Bottle gourds are among the vegetables grown in the kitchen garden of the Perungalathur town panchayat. TAMBARAM: Two urban local bodies in the southern suburbs of Chennai have demonstrated the use of applying organic manure generated in their compost yards to grow vegetables in kitchen gardens maintained by them. The Sholinganallur and Perungalathur town panchayats have taken the lead in experimenting with this concept that has proved successful. In Sholinganallur, the kitchen garden is developed on a piece of land measuring 10,000 square feet, behind the office of the Town Panchayat on Rajiv Gandhi Salai. Arvind Ramesh, Town Panchayat Chairman, said K.Gopal, Commissioner of Town Panchayats, had encouraged urban local bodies to come up with innovative schemes in addition to following the laid down norms in collection and disposal of garbage. The compost yard to convert kitchen waste into organic manure was put in place and the first batch of the manure was recently harvested. Instead of selling them in the market or handing them over to the Agriculture Department, they decided to use the manure themselves and as vacant land was available within their premises, they developed the garden, Mr. Ramesh said. Officials said that they had planted maize and some other vegetables and harvested about 200 maize which they sold at Rs.2 each to residents. Apart from using the manure for the garden, they also sold it in small packets priced at Rs. 2 each. In Perungalathur, the kitchen garden is being raised on a two-acre plot in Gundumedu area near the compost yard. Ladies