Rafique Aziz
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
To achieve the garbage bin-free city tag and transform it into a haven for tourists, the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) has devised a plan to eliminate garbage waste points (GWP).
Head of Solid Waste Management (SWM) Cell, Ravindra Jogdand said,“ A quantity of 450 tonnes per day (TPD) of mixed garbage waste is generated in the city. The rapidly expanding city is now divided into 10 zones. Through the contractor, we had already started a door-to-door garbage collection through vehicles, but we have yet to achieve 100 per cent in it. Few GWPs continue to exist in different parts of the old city.”
“We have constituted four patrolling squads for this focussed areas. The squad surveys the main roads on vehicles and if they find garbage lying at any GWP, they immediately alert the ward office, who then deploys the concerned sanitary inspector and the jawan with workers to clear the spot on priority. A photographic record of the action is also maintained by the ward office (photos before and after lifting of garbage from GWP),” explained Jogdand adding that the garbage at GWP is sometimes left unlifted due to poor coordination between the two ghanta gadi operators.
Sanitary inspector/Jawan on radar
Jogdand underlined, “We would not tolerate the lethargy of civic personnel in this task. We have started to levy a fine of Rs 500 upon sanitary inspector or Rs 200 upon jawan if they are found lethargic in rendering their duties.”
Change in mindset need of the hour
The CSMC has initiated various programmes under the leadership of the municipal commissioner and administrator G Sreekanth. The awareness programmes aim at attracting people's participation in the city and inculcating the pride of the city in them. “ Our focus is to bring change in the mindset gradually and encourage them to extend coordination to the CSMC in achieving the dream of freeing the city from garbage waste,” said the head of SWM Cell. There are plans to invite the participation of students since the school and college days in large numbers. This initiative will yield results in the long term, hope Jogdand.