He is entrusted with the responsibility of controlling pollution levels in the city.
But the executive officer (EO) of the Dera Bassi municipal council (MC), Gurdarshan Singh, has been fined ₹5,000 by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) after some MC employees were caught
burning garbage.
Executive engineer, PPCB, Ashok Sharma said, the employees were burning garbage in a dustbin.
Commenting on the matter, Gurdarshan said he was not aware of the PPCB fine, but after getting information about a fire in the garbage container, he had “immediately sent a team to douse the flames.”
He said he had been told that the fire “may be the handiwork of some persons.”
{{/usCountry}}He said he had been told that the fire “may be the handiwork of some persons.”
{{/usCountry}}MC staffers had been instructed to dispose of garbage “properly,” and they were doing so,” said Harjinder Singh Rangi, president, MC.
Though Dera Bassi is gasping for breath due to severe air pollution, the practice of burning garbage is still going unchecked, as the town lacks a system for disposal of solid waste with MC sweepers usually collecting and burning trash.
According to the action plan to counter pollution in Mohali district, officials have been advised to educate their staff about not burning solid waste
in the open and installing
CCTV cameras at secondary garbage collection points to check such incidents.
The Dera Bassi civic body has also imposed fines of ₹5,000 for littering in public places in residential areas and ₹250 for not segregating waste.