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)         02.09.2016  

Audit report pegs tax loss to corpn. at Rs.108 crore

The city corporation, which is struggling to find resources for its day-to-day activities, is lethargic in collecting taxes, says the latest Local Fund Audit report.

The tax arrears of the local body during the 2014-15 fiscal come to a whopping Rs.108.32 crore and it collected only 36.29 per cent of the property tax from the residents of the city. Of the Rs.43.69 crore to be collected, it could collect only Rs.15.85 crore. The local body has also been going soft on collecting professional tax from traders, professionals and institutions in the city.

The municipal law empowers the local body not to renew the annual licences of agencies which have not cleared the tax arrears. Yet, the burgeoning tax arrears are a matter of serious concern, the auditors point out.

The failure of the local body in collecting tax for the advertisements displayed in the city resulted in a loss of Rs.3.34 crore. All publicity materials that are displayed in the city without remitting the tax should be removed, they say. Several institutions are found operating in the city without valid licences. A large number of tutorial institutions, parallel colleges and paramedical institutions are found operating in the city without registering themselves with the local body. The civic authorities should pay attention to collecting taxes and other statutory fee from agencies concerned, the report says.

Many flaws

The local body has also failed to fully discharge is duties regarding the maintenance of office records, services offered at its front office, publication of citizens charter, setting up of ward centres, distribution of welfare pension and implementation of rural employment guarantee scheme, the report adds.