Deccan Herald            11.12.2013

Be prepared to pay fine for littering in public places

MCC all set to impose fine on public, commercial establishments under KMC Act

 Mangalore City Corporation Commissioner Ajith
Kumar Hegde S has said that the Karnataka Municipal Corporations
(Amendment) Act 2013 provides for slapping penalty and even imprisoning
those habitually failing to segregate their garbage and indulging in
littering, urinating, spitting in public, open defecating or committing
other acts of nuisance on road, bus station, railway station, street and
playground in the municipal corporation areas of the State.

The same will be implemented in Mangalore City Corporation.

Speaking
to mediapersons here on Tuesday, he said that littering, spitting or
committing any acts of nuisance in public places will attract a fine of
Rs 100 first time and Rs 200 for second and subsequent offence.

The
Act envisages imposing penalty on households for their failure to
segregate dry waste from wet waste before handing it over to the
collector. Penalty ranges from Rs 100 for the first offence to Rs 500
for the second and subsequent offence, Rs 500 for bulk generator. Any
person who commits the offence for the fifth time would face
imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months or be fined Rs
1,000 or both, the Act states.

The dumping of building waste would attract a fine of Rs 1,000 for the first time and Rs 5,000 for the subsequent offence.

The Act states that the solid
waste generated by the city corporations in the State, especially in
BBMP, was very high. “Solid waste has to be disposed of systematically
in a scientific manner and as per the guidelines prescribed in Solid
Wastes (Handling and Management) Rules, 2000 by the Central government,”
it said.

The Commissioner said that the Mangalore City
Corporation has already imposed fine on four hospitals and one
commercial establishment, for not complying with the guidelines of the
Corporation.

To a query on door-to-door collection of garbage,
Joint Commissioner (Revenue) Prameela said that under eight package
scheme, the contractors have been insisted to cover atleast 75 per cent.
The response is good in city limits and interiror areas, it has not
been encouraging.

As many as 31 vehicles carrying garbage to
Pacchanady are fitted with GPS and its movement is monitored. At the
same time, weigh bridge has been installed at Pacchanady dumpyard.

“We
are also allowing vehicles from Ullal, Bantwal and Moodbidri to dump
their garbage in Pacchanady and are charging Rs 250 per tonne of waste
dumped. The MCC will allow them to dump waste for six months from
November, till they find an alternative site for landfill.”

The
Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) has urged people to make use of the
dedicated cell number 9900536633 to send SMS to the corporation for
filing complaints on unattended garbage in their wards.

Under the
SMS-based grievance redressal system, a complaint number would be
generated and measures taken to clear the garbage would be informed to
the complainant. The format is as follows: name, address, details of
complaint, ward number/name.

Malaria, Dengue

The Commissioner said that the MCC has conducted survey in 33,417 houses in 43 wards to destroy mosquito breeding centres.

As
many as 3,156 mosquito breeding centres were identified and 2,261
centres have been destroyed. The work on releasing guppy fishes in wells
is in progress at Hoige Bazar, Bengre, Attavar and Kodialbail areas, he
said.