A day after the High Court directed the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike to impose a penalty on those who fail to segregate waste at source, Urban Development Minister S Suresh Kumar said the government is ready to initiate legal action against violators.
Speaking at a one-day workshop organised by the Urban Development Department for commissioners of various city and municipal corporations here on Tuesday, Suresh Kumar said those who generate waste have to segregate it before giving it to the pourakarmikas.
“We will take legal action against such offenders and make an announcement to this effect soon,” he said.
“We are in an unusual situation where HC has to interfere and direct the public to segregate waste,” he said He urged the city and municipal chiefs to be prepared to tackle municipal waste collection, transportation and management.
“If we fail to address this problem now, it will become complex as it happened in the city recently. Landfill crisis in Bangalore should be a lesson for other city corporations. If we do not learn now, tomorrow we will have to pay a heavy price. There is a need for equal participation from the public. Public should not think that it is jus BBMP’s problem,” he said.
Environmentalist Yellappa Reddy stressed to concentrate on ‘muncipalisation’ before ‘urbanisation’.
“The current population has grown 100 times more than the animals in the past five decades. One can imagine the amount of garbage generated by people. Use of electronic gadgets has increased the usage of plastic in rural areas. With plastic and ewaste dumping, chemicals like chromium are likely to affect the coming generation,” he said.
He urged commissioners to encourage ragpickers.
“In Bangalore, 5,200 ragpickers are engaged in segregating dry waste. This will not only save government’s money, but also ensure jobs for ragpickers.”