Mohali MC to keep tabs on households not segregating waste
Mohali municipal corporation had begun its waste segregation programme in 2017, but for over six years, authorities have been unable to implement it effectively; after identification & course-correction measures such as awareness drives, MC will start penalising defaulters
The Mohali municipal corporation (MC) will begin maintaining a record of residents who are mixing wet and dry waste in violation of the guidelines of the civic body.
The civic body had begun its waste segregation programme in 2017, but for over six years, authorities have been unable to implement it effectively.
During a joint meeting of all stakeholders on Monday, it was decided to start with maintaining a record of residents who not sorting waste so as to take corrective measures.
The president of the garbage collectors’ association was instructed to inform the staff to only accept segregated waste.
Mohali municipal commissioner Navjot Kaur said, “Clear directions were issued not to accept mixed waste at the resource management centre (RMC).”
Teach, instruct, and challan
She said a three-step procedure will be followed. First, the MC officials will generate awareness among residents.
In the second phase, such residents will be directed to keep separate bins for segregating wet and dry waste.
In the third phase, MC officials will issue a challan to the house owner who is involved in violating the norms. Similarly, the garbage collectors and sanitary inspectors have been directed to make a list of houses that are not paying for garbage collection and are not handing over household garbage to the collector.”
“Such people could be dumping the garbage at vacant land and contributing to creating garbage vulnerable points,” said the MC commissioner.
Later in the evening, the MC team inspected the garbage collection points to check if measures are being taken to avoid mixing wet and dry waste.
“Directions have been issued not to collect horticulture waste separately. Such waste is being shredded and used for composting,” said the MC official.
Sources said that these measures are being taken to improve the Swachh Survekshan ranking of the city. Mohali slipped 32 positions from last year’s 81st rank to settle at the 113th spot among 382 cities in the 1 to 10 lakh category in the 2022 Swachh Survekshan.
An official, requesting anonymity, said, “A huge volume of mixed garbage is still going to landfill sites and officials fear that it could affect their position in the Swachhta ranking.”
‘Area outside MC adding to the menace’
Deputy commissioner Kiran Sharma said, “Most of the door-to-door garbage brought by waste pickers is in segregated form, but areas outside the municipal limits do not have proper RMCs. Their mixed waste is left by private garbage picking contractors at our RMCs. We do not have the quantum data, but we are trying to keep a strict watch on such mixed waste reaching our RMCs.”
