The Hindu        Karnataka (Banagalore)      06.09.2016

Ex-servicemen may monitor garbage segregation at source

Cleaning up:A recent survey found that only 40 p.c. of Bengaluru was segregating waste.— File Photo: V Sreenivasa Murthy

Battle-hardened ex-servicemen may fight the city’s garbage menace if a proposal put forward by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is accepted by the Karnataka government.

Unable to enforce garbage segregation at source across the city, BBMP is now turning towards ex-servicemen to enforce “garbage discipline”.

“Every ward will ideally have two ex-servicemen. They will have to ensure that waste is segregated at source by the citizens, and contractors regularly collect and dispose of this waste in a proper manner,” said Sarfaraz Khan, Joint Commissioner, Solid Waste Management, BBMP.

These ex-servicemen will have their own uniforms and will have the authority to penalise offenders.

The decision follows a suggestion made by N.S. Ramakanth, a garbage expert and member of the Solid Waste Management Round Table, whose survey had found that only 40 per cent of the city was segregating waste.

Though segregation of waste at source is mandatory, not many follow it.

Waste processing plants in the city often struggle to handle mixed waste and this eventually reaches a landfill away from the city.

Transportation problems

Garbage contractors have been found to be dumping unsegregated waste at street corners to avoid paying for transportation.

Sometimes when garbage is not collected for days, residents too begin dumping it on the roads, sources said.

“We are finalising the logistics, including salary, after which short-term tenders will be issued. There are various ex-servicemen groups in the city and we will be handing over this on contract basis,” Mr. Sarfaraz Khan said, adding that the penalisation will be applicable to both citizens and garbage contractors. Ex-servicemen will also report on the ground-level work of the BBMP in each of its wards.

Though welcoming the move, Col. John Serrao from the ECHS Ex-servicemen Group, is slightly apprehensive whether ex-servicemen will be very comfortable with the policing aspects that this venture involves.

“Dealing with civilians and trying to discipline and police them is a Herculean task and very different from what servicemen do while in the service. So, in my opinion, it might not be that easy to get servicemen to do this,” he said.

The Hindu     Kerala (Kochi)          01.09.2016 

Local body resolves to go ahead with energy plant

The proposed waste-to-energy plant at Brahmapuram will have two units, one for producing refuse-derived fuel blocks and another for generating power, Mayor Soumini Jain has said.

Replying to a debate in the corporation council on Wednesday, Ms. Jain said the project proponent would seek all mandatory clearances for the proposed plant. The local body will have the responsibility to provide the required quantity of waste for treatment at the plant.

The BPCL has entered into an agreement with the Kochi Corporation to provide Rs.25 crore viability gap fund.

The agency will provide financial assistance in five instalments, and an agreement was signed with the petroleum company on Tuesday, she said.

The Mayor also offered to conduct a technical presentation for councillors to have a better understanding of the project. CPI(M) councillor K.J. Antony said the waste-to-energy project had not been proved successful anywhere in the country, and that the local body was heading for trouble by going ahead with it.

Poornima Narayanan, another CPI(M) councillor, expressed apprehensions about the availability of 300 tonnes of waste required for the project.

ABC programme

Ms. Jain said the Animal Birth Control programme was a legally valid project to control canine population. The law permits culling of only rabid and severely injured dogs, she added.