In the past two weeks, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) authorities collected fines to the tune of Rs 24,000 from individuals who violated the Solid Waste Management bylaw.
BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana had issued a notification on August 31, authorising assistant engineers to penalise those who did not segregate waste, litter in public places and for other offenses as prescribed in the penalty clause of the SWM bylaw.
Speaking to Express, the Commissioner said the engineers collected Rs 24,000 from the offenders in the last 10 days. “Our intention of collecting a fine is to instill fear in people and make them segregate waste,” he said.
A senior BBMP official said the amount was collected as fine in 15 cases of violations, most of them bulk generators. “They are habitual offenders who dump garbage on the roadside. Penalty collected from individuals is less,” the official said.
Health inspectors to keep track
Mayor B S Sathyanarayana said health inspectors and officers are being considered to monitor the process of clearing garbage.
“Earlier, it was the Health Department that was in charge of garbage management. Later, environment engineers were appointed in each ward but they opted for transfers. Henceforth, health officials and engineers will be in charge of clearing garbage in their respective wards,” the Mayor explained.
Cleanliness drives in markets will be organised on every Monday with the aid of college students and resident welfare associations. Intensive cleaning of wards in each zone will be taken up every week, the Mayor said.
“We will follow random sampling. We shall pick a chit from each zone. We shall clear debris and other accumulated garbage and also sweep roads. The Deputy Mayor, the Commissioner and I will inspect these wards,” he explained.
Sathyanarayana also said that councillors and city MLAs will visit a plant that converts waste to energy at Salem in Tamil Nadu in the last week of September.
“If a similar plant is installed in each zone, we can convert waste to manure and send it to farmers directly. This will do away with the need for landfills,” he said.