New Delhi: The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has issued more than 1,400 notices to resident welfare associations (RWAs) and fined 122 residents for not segregating dry, wet and hazardous household waste at source.
The RWAs put on notice include Defence Colony, Panchsheel Park, Lajpat Nagar, Andrews Ganj, Gangotri Enclave, Hari Nagar, Janakpuri, Punjabi Bagh, Green Park Extension, South Extension-II and Hauz Khas.
Fines were imposed on as many as 122 residents in localities such as Defence Colony, Kotla Mubarakpur, South Extension-II among others.
The civic agency threatened to impose a fine of Rs 10,000 for handing over non-segregated waste to waste collectors. Municipal officials said as per Solid Waste Management Rules 2016, waste segregation should be done at the source both in commercial and residential areas.
According to municipal officials, wet waste or kitchen waste should be deposited in green bins, dry waste such as plastic bottles, milk pouches, etc., in blue bins and hazardous waste such as needles, sanitary napkins among others in red bins.
“Some residents were fined around 20-25 days back for not segregating waste. We have appealed to residents to provide segregated waste to collectors. We are doing waste segregation at source and there is no laxity on our part,” Ranjeet Singh, president the Defence Colony RWA, said.
{{/usCountry}}“Some residents were fined around 20-25 days back for not segregating waste. We have appealed to residents to provide segregated waste to collectors. We are doing waste segregation at source and there is no laxity on our part,” Ranjeet Singh, president the Defence Colony RWA, said.
{{/usCountry}}An SDMC official said waste segregation in residential areas began a year ago. But from June this year, the process was made mandatory for all residents in SDMC’s jurisdiction.
“As many as 1,430 notices have been issued to RWAs and 122 violators have been fined Rs 200 per day for not providing segregated waste. Those who have been challaned are repeat offenders. Our intent is maximum compliance of the Solid Waste Management rules so that no waste goes to landfill sites,” a senior official from the department of environment management services of SDMC said.
Out of the total notices to RWAs, 125 were issued in south zone, 535 in central , 300 in west and 470 in Najafgarh zone. The civic body had performed poorly in the Swachh Survekshan 2020, ranking 31 out of 47 cities.
Neha Puri, a representative of Green Park Extension RWA, said waste segregation in her neighbourhood began in March but the process slowed down due to the pandemic. Later, SDMC issued a notice for waste segregation.
“We were told waste segregation at source is mandatory, which we had already been doing since March this year. We are still working to ensure 100% segregation. Nearly 50% residents are segregating their waste. We update our residents about solid waste management norms and encourage them for waste segregation,” Puri said.
She said there were instances of segregated waste getting mixed again at collection points by municipal workers.
Amarjeet Singh, president of the Lajpat Nagar-3 RWA, said waste segregation was happening in all 13 blocks of the neighbourhood.
SDMC collects nearly 3,600 metric tonnes of garbage every day. Some of this garbage is sent to the Okhla landfill site and the rest to the waste-to-energy and construction & demolition waste recycling plants.
South mayor Anamika Mithilesh said: “Waste segregation will help in reducing load on landfills and ease the process of waste disposal. It will improve sanitation conditions in the area. We are making efforts to spread awareness about waste segregation and holding meetings and camps in different localities.”