The Mangalore City Corporation’s much-touted drive of collecting segregated garbage from the doorsteps of residents is nowhere near reality.
Even the pilot project of segregating waste launched four weeks ago at Orchards Apartment complex at Arya Samaj Road, Court ward, has not taken off.
Vinod Davasa, president, Orchard Apartment Owners Association, said, “No vehicle (to carry the waste) has come so far. We are very eager to start the process. But the municipality should say when they will come.” The association had held meetings with the MCC a month ago, but it cannot implement anything till it hears from the MCC, he said.
The residents of the apartment have evolved their own system of handling garbage by hiring a private agency which collects the waste between 11 am and 11.30 am from plastic bins placed by the residents.
But the agency dumps the waste in MCC’s garbage bins placed on roadsides. Mr. Davasa said that of the 93 flats in the complex, 63 to 70 are occupied. Not all are residents are willing but once it is implemented, they will join too.
There are several places in the city where one can see garbage dumped. Instead of garbage going from homes to the corporation bins, it is finding its way into drains, and empty plots. In Mannagudda, Vijaya, a resident, said she had stopped segregating because the garbage collectors never came to her house at a fixed time. “They have not asked us to segregate. Also, we don’t know when they are coming. So we gave up,” she said.
Madhu S. Manohar, Environmental Engineer, MCC said, “We can do it (segregating waste) next year....”
The MCC contractors collecting garbage were not obliged to segregate it under the contract and it was an additional work for them, he said.
Citizens too need some lessons
It is frequently pointed out that people lack civic sense and implementation of segregation of waste is an uphill task. A reality check does show that garbage is still finding its way into drains and empty plots.
In Valencia, for instance, some residents dispose of the garbage instead of handing it over to the corporation collector. Manjula, a resident of Valencia, said they were unwilling to pay the garbage collectors. In Marnamikatte, some throw the garbage at night wherever they think fit, said Sumitha Karanth, a resident. Some people in Mangalore throw paper, peels or chips and chocolate wrappers out of car and bus windows. One shopkeeper in Kadri said it was fine to throw paper anywhere because it is a public place. There is chewing gum stuck on the handle bar of elevators in shopping malls and paan stain all over the roads. Sometimes, people spit from the bus windows on unsuspecting people. Uttam Shetty, a student of Canara College, said it adults who spit in public places should be fined. But children should be taught not to spit in public places.
