Nagpur: Even as the ruling BJP in NMC has made tall claims on providing two waste tbins to the citizens, the penny starved NMC is eyeing on citizen’s pocket to deliver the results. Yes the citizens need to buy an extra bin before June 1. Unless this is done, NMC won’t lift their garbage from June 1.
NMC has proposed to supply 11 lakh waste bins to 5.5 lakh household for segregating garbage at source. The cost of this project is Rs14 crore. However, NMC is yet to begin the process of buying these bins.
A senior NMC official said, “As per Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, it is the responsibility of the waste generator to segregate the garbage at source. Therefore citizens should have two waste bins for dry and wet garbage. We will provide them two waste bins soon but till then they should make arrangements for segregating garbage.”
Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, state, ‘All waste generators shall segregate and store the waste generated by them in three separate streams namely bio-degradable, non bio-degradable and domestic hazardous wastes in suitable bins and handover segregated wastes to authorized ragpickers or waste collectors.’
NMC ruling party leader Sandip Joshi, who had tabled the proposal to provide waste bins to citizens free of cost in NMC house, claimed that there was no need for people to buy extra bins. “Standing committee chairman Sandip Jadhav will convene a meeting on Friday in this regard. We will buy the bins on rate contract basis at government approved rates. So there is no need for people to buy extra bins,” he said.
Social activist Anil Wadpalliwar, however, feels that NMC is leading people up the garden path. “How will NMC supply waste bins to 5.5 lakh citizens before June 1? Even if NMC buys bins on rate contract basis, the supplier will take his time to bring the bins from outside. NMC’s garbage operator Kanak Resources will then take its own time to distribute the bins. The two processes will take some time,” he said. Wadpalliwar, however, appealed to people who can afford to buy an extra bin to separate garbage from June 1.
Kaustav Chatterjee of Green Vigil said that NMC should have started an awareness campaign among citizens long ago so that they had time to buy waste bins without causing a shortage in the market. “NMC should now immediately start the campaign. People should be asked to segregate waste and put them in buckets or other containers till NMC provides them bins. When NMC gets the bins, they should give it to below poverty line (BPL) citizens first,” he added.
Bangalore Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been segregating garbage since months. It collects wet garbage on one day and dry on the next. The housing societies have been given the responsibility of segregating garbage.
