Stung by defiance, MBMC decides to segregate waste at source, but at a cost
Saddled with a daunting task of disposing off an overload of garbage (450 metric tonnes) generated by the twin-city every day, the mandated waste segregation project mooted by the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) continues to evoke a lukewarm response from societies since its inception in May, this year.
Stung by the defiance, the civic administration has implemented its 'No Segregation, No Pick Up’ drive for the past couple of days.
With occasional monsoon showers gathering momentum, piles of waste accumulated in different parts of the city and consequent swarms of flies and mosquitoes have raised serious health concerns.
Fearing an outbreak of diseases, the health department has now mooted a proposal to segregate garbage of defaulting societies but only after levying monetary penalties.
"We agree that segregation is the need of the hour and societies too are steadily adhering to norms, but the civic administration is not supposed to take such illegal steps which could create a health hazard, instead they should launch proper awareness campaigns," said corporator Ravi Vyas.
“We are doing everything from our end to encourage people to segregate waste, however so far around 55 percent societies have dutifully complied to guidelines. There is provision in the Municipal Solid Waste regulations of penalise defaulters, but we don’t want to initiate harsh measures.
Soon we will charge Rs 500 as at-source segregation charges for a stipulated timeframe, so that all societies fall-in line,” said deputy civic chief Dr. Sambhajji Panpatte.
As per rules it is binding upon individuals, housing societies and commercial establishments to segregate waste at source, however, due to the absence of an enforcing mechanism, the much needed practice was never been followed.
However, judicial directions prompted the MBMC to send out notices to around 7,000 housing societies in the region to separate wet garbage from dry into two distinct bins, this tagged with a warning of stringent action, including refusal to collect non-segregated garbage and snapping of water lines of repeat offenders.