Gram Panchayat's move to reward people tipping about those littering pays off

To keep the surroundings clean, tidy and to stop people from littering in public places, Kuppepadavu Gram Panchayat had announced a reward of Rs 500 to ‘informers’ sharing details about people dumping garbage in public places with officials.

The Gram Panchayat had also decided to impose a fine of Rs 1,000 on those caught dumping garbage in public places.

The decision has yielded positive results and indiscriminate dumping of garbage by the side of roads and on vacant site has reduced drastically. More than half of the black spots have become clean, Kuppepadavu Panchayat Development Officer (PDO) Savitha told DH.

“Those sharing photos or videos of people throwing garbage will be given Rs 500 as reward. We have placed boards near ‘black spot’ areas after the Gram Panchayat took a decision to impose the fine. Our staff too visit different black spots as part of surveillance,” she said.

The PDO said, “With the help of members and organisations, we carried out cleanliness drive recently.”

People have stopped dumping garbage in public places after the boards were installed there. The black spots across the Gram Panchayat limits were not only causing inconveniences but also reeked of a nauseating smell. In the past, soon after cleaning such black spots, garbage were dumped again on the following day at the same spot.

During Gram Panchayat meeting held on October 28, the members decided to impose the fine and to reward informers who share information on those dumping garbage. The informers identity will not be disclosed,” Savitha said.

She said, “The Gram Panchayat had already started collecting dry waste from shops and other business establishments. Awareness is being created among households on segregation of waste. The work on ‘Swaccha Sankeerana’ is in progress. A temporary shed was set up to store the dry waste collected from shops and business establishments. There are 704 households in the Gram Panchayat limits.”

The Panchayat Development Officer said, “We have also been sharing messages on cleanliness in WhatsApp groups. The members of Gram Panchayat are also cooperative.”

Kuppepadavu Gram Panchayat president Hammabba said, “We want to keep the Gram Panchayat jurisdiction clean. Members and staff are monitoring the dumping of garbage. In fact, many from outside the Gram Panchayat limits were dumping garbage in Kuppepadavu. The decision to impose fine and to reward informers has received good response.”