In continuing action against non-segregation of waste at source, the Mangaluru City Corporation imposed a fine of ₹53,000 on an apartment complex in the city for failure to segregate dry and wet waste. If residents fail to pay fine, the corporation said that it will disconnect water supply.
Corporation Commissioner Akshy Sridhar said that residents of Mars and Venus Apartment in Chilimbi that has 106 flats had failed to segregate waste despite a number of notice issued by the Health Department officials.
“As the apartment residents failed to take any steps to segregate waste at source, we had to impose fine,” he said. The fine has been calculated at ₹500 per unit.
Mayor Premanand Shetty on May 21 said that segregation of wet, dry and sanitary waste at source is mandatory under Karnataka Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules 2016 and Mangaluru City Corporation Solid Waste Management Bye-laws 2018. He had asked residents to strictly comply with these to prevent spread of COVID-19 among sanitary workers. While wet waste is collected on six days a week, dry waste is collected from houses on Fridays.
He and Mr. Sridhar visited several places in the city in the last few days to make people aware of the need to segregate waste and avoid disaster such as the garbage slip at the landfill site in Pachhanady in 2019.
According to statistics maintained by the corporation, on June 6, 127.4 tonnes of wet waste was segregated of the total of 241.3 tonnes that was collected. The total waste includes the mixed waste collected from roadside. Similarly, 120 tonnes of wet waste was segregated of the total of 310 tonnes of waste collected on June 5. As much as 111.1 tonnes of wet waste was segregated of the total of 219.5 tones collected on June 2. The corporation has been imposing fine, more so on bulk waste generators, who do not have a mechanism to process waste or those who do not segregate waste.
