Non-government organisations and activists in the city have urged the authorities and the government to constitute a district-level task force on solid waste management as mandated by the law and district lake protection committee to save waterbodies.
Activists from the Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP) and Clean Mysuru have also urged the chairman of the State Level Committee to implement SWM Rules to ensure that the task force was constituted to help tackle garbage menace.
Activists, including S. Shobana and Venkatesh Kharidi of MGP and Ramesh Kikkeri of Clean Mysuru, drew attention to the worsening garbage crisis in the city and said that it was ironical that Mysuru was ranked the cleanest when the ranking and award were first instituted.
But since then, the city has not been able to maintain that rank, said the activists, who pointed out that it was not entirely the fault of the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) which had taken steps to keep the city clean.
The MCC’s waste collection efforts from houses have seen marked improvements though there is still scope for better performance, they said.
But it was pointed out that once the waste is collected from residences or commercial establishments, its treatment to dispose in an environmentally sustainable way needs considerable improvement. While there are some efforts made to convert into compost manure at regional/ward levels (zero waste management facilities) or at city level, there is scope for further improvement, they said.
Blaming the public also, the activists said that many residents failed to segregate and many dumped it on footpaths, vacant land etc.
Hence the NGOs called for imposing hefty fines to act as a deterrent against littering and dumping garbage in public places.
The activists said it has been more than two years since a direction was issued by the authorities to establish a district-level task force to help implement SWM Rules 2016.
Drawing attention to the state of lakes and waterbodies in the district, the attention of the district administration was also drawn to encroachment and the imperatives of cracking down on such developments.
“There are 2,991 lakes and waterbodies in Mysuru district but over the years we have seen them becoming easy prey to the greed of people with no concern for the society,” according to the MGP and Clean Mysuru.
Though a High Court order in 2012 directed that district lake protection committees be constituted, it has not been done so far and hence the urgency of constituting the same was underlined.
