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Eyeing better cleanliness ranking, MC cracking down on littering, non-segregation of garbage
As per solid waste management rules and the National Green Tribunal directions, the civic body challaned 933 city residents for not segregating waste at their homes, in the past two months alone
Looking to improve the city’s standing annual Swachh Survekshan rankings and ensuring cleanliness in the city, the municipal corporation (MC) has undertaken aggressive challaning against those failing to segregate waste from the source and littering.
As per solid waste management rules and the National Green Tribunal directions, the civic body challaned 933 city residents for not segregating waste at their homes, in the past two months alone.
In the month of June, 408 residents were challaned whereas the number rose to 525 in the month of July. The fine ranges from ₹232 to ₹11,576 per default depending upon the category of the unit.
Besides, the civic body is also focusing on challaning people for littering in the city. In June 174 people were challaned for littering or disposing garbage on the back lanes/roads/ streets and 300 defaulters were challaned in July.
MC commissioner Anindita Mitra said, “The civic body aims to have 100% segregated waste from the source for better processing of the garbage in the city. Though we have improved from 60% segregation to over 90% now, people from city’s urban areas (sectors) still show lackadaisical approach in segregating waste. It was learnt that the residents of erstwhile villages or peripheries of the city are actively segregating waste and showing better results.”
Further batting for garbage segregation, Mitra said the same will not only help in improving the Swachh Survekshan rankings, but also help in garbage processing, adding, “The new technology processing plants, which are in the process of being set up at Dadumajra, will process waste only if it is 100% segregated. We are also focusing on challaning people for throwing/littering garbage near their houses as it becomes difficult for the MC employees to segregate waste from the garbage dumps.”
To promote and raise awareness on segregation of waste, the civic body is also distributing “certificates of appreciation” to those people who are doing 100% waste segregation.
“Various drives, awareness camps are being conducted to teach people on four bins and four types of waste,” Mitra said.
Central teams to inspect city in August
Centre’s team, meanwhile, will tour and inspect the city for the Swachh Survekshan 2023 this month. Bouncing back from 2021’s embarrassing performance, when it stood 66th, Chandigarh has ranked 12th among cities with more than 1 lakh population in 2022. The civic body now aims to break into the top three clean cities.
There are four types of solid waste including, dry, wet, hazardous and sanitary waste. As per the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, all households have to segregate their waste. The segregated garbage has to be handed over to door-to-door garbage collectors. It has been more than three years since the MC mandated the segregation of waste at the source.
