For the first time in Vagurampatti village panchayat, workers called, ‘Thuimai Kavalargal’, visit each household and involve in door-to-door collection of garbage and segregate it and dump in yards. Inaugurated by Collector V. Dakshinamoorthy in the presence of District Rural Development Authority Project Director C. Malathi, the solid waste management programme was implemented in 12,524 village panchayats in the State that has population of more than 10,000 people. In Namakkal district, the project was initially implemented in Vagurampatti village panchayat and would later be extended to 73 village panchayats. The workers with tricycle would visit each house and collect the garbage everyday and dump in the yards. The biodegradable waste would be dumped in pits and converted as manure and sold in the market. A worker is assigned to collect garbage from 150 houses and they would be paid under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme for the first 100 days. Later, they would be paid daily wages under the scheme. Officials said that in most of the villages, the generated waste is dumped in open places and in drains leading to environmental hazard. The workers were given tricycles, gadgets, safety equipment and other materials for collecting the garbage and segregating it. Namakkal Block Development Officers Senthilvel and Madheswaran, Vagurampatti panchayat president Jothi and others were present.