Activists skeptical about MCC announcement

Suspect that fine for not segregating waste will remain only on paper

Even after implementation of several programmes to ensure waste segregation at source, the ambitious programme of the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has largely remained on paper. Meanwhile, the recent announcement by the MCC to impose fine on households that do no segregate waste has attracted criticism from several quarters.

Raising several questions on the implementation of the announcement by the MCC, they argue that the recent announcement, like the earlier ones, will remain merely at the announcement stage.

Vaidehi G, secretary of ‘A’ Matthu ‘B’ Block Kshemabhivruddhi Sangha, Kuvempunagar, a self-help group that has been working to segregate waste, said, the MCC has not been successful in creating enough awareness about the issue. Moreover, MCC does not have the required staff and vehicles to collect the waste, even if households promptly segregated them.

“Awareness programmes of the MCC has been restricted only to a few parts of the city. Most of the residents in densely populated and economically backward areas of Mysuru are still unaware of waste segregation,” she said.

She added that some persons were annoyed at the MCC’s decision to distribute dustbins for waste segregation to residents of only a few parts of the city.

“If they want to implement a scheme, they should distribute dustbins to all households, so that people are encouraged to participate in the exercise,” she said.

On the proposal for imposing fine, “Imposing fines may be beneficial. But, how will the MCC catch the offenders? What steps has it taken, before making the announcement?” she questioned.

Another activist M Basavaraju said, despite tall claims by the MCC, the door to door collection has remained a non-starter. “In some plush localities such as Vijayanagar and Vontikoppal, door to door segregation has been moderately successful. However, in areas such as Ashokapuram and Mandi Mohalla, people continue to dump waste in the containers placed at street corners,” he said.

He noted that several past announcements of the MCC, such as cellar clearance of multi-storey buildings and removing hoardings, have not been completely implemented.

Nirmala, a resident of Metagalli, said, they were irked by the behaviour of pourakarmikas who dump the segregated waste in the same bin. “If the MCC employees do not follow the guidelines, how will they enforce it on residents?” she questioned.

Phased manner

Reacting to the issues raised by the activists, MCC Health Officer Dr Ramachandra said, fines will be imposed on households in a phased manner.

“In the first stage, the MCC will impose fines in 18 wards, followed by 18 wards in the second phase. Rest of the wards will be taken up subsequently,” he said. On the current status of waste segregation in the city, he said, it has being taken up successfully in ‘some’ wards.

Noting that there were more than 2.06 lakh households in the city, he said, it might take at least six months when fines can be successfully imposed.

On waste segregation bins distributed by the MCC, he said, there were some ‘mistakes’ in the distribution and added that some of the buckets are being used to store food materials, rather than for waste segregation.

He said, pourakarmikas have also been briefed about the importance of waste segregation and have been instructed not to mix the waste.