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.