KMC to launch special drive to keep litterbugs at bay

KOLKATA: Exercise caution while throwing plastic wastes outside your premise. Chances are that you have to pay penalty if you get caught in the act.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has decided to undertake a special drive to keep the litterbugs at bay. The civic authorities have also decided to form a special squad to keep vigil over some of the city areas where plastic littering has become a headache for the civic top brass.

Armed with a recent circular issued by the municipal commissioner Khalil Ahmed, the KMC conservancy department has tied up with the civic drainage department and project management unit (PMU) to form a team which will take on owners of residential buildings and shops and offices who dispose plastic and other wastes on the road.

According to the plan, the civic crack team will first visit the households or market places where the cases of plastic littering have been growing steadily.

“We have identified some areas where people are in the habit of throwing plastic wastes on the road every day. We have also identified some shops in some markets which regularly litter roads by disposing plastic wastes. We have asked members of the crack team to keep a vigil on them as the first step toward implementation of a special drive to get rid of plastic menace,” a KMC official said.

Section 338 of the KMC act (1980) allows the civic body to impose penalty against offenders responsible for plastic littering on the streets. The amount of fine (from Rs 50 to Rs 5000) will, however, be decided by the judge of a municipal court depending on the gravity of the littering.

According to the KMC sources, some of the most plastic littered areas in the city include Cossipore Road, Paikpara, Burrabazar, MG Road, College Street, SN Banerjee Road, Kidderpore, Diamond Harbour Road, Asutosh Mukherjee Road among others.

Among the markets which have been listed as the most polluted include Kankurgachi Market, Maniktala Market, Koley Market, Park Circus Market, Lansdowne Market, Lake Market, Behala Market and Bansdroni Market.

The KMC officials have also been asked to keep a close eye on some of these highly polluted plastic zones, especially the markets ahead of monsoon.

According to an internal survey conducted by the KMC, it has been found that the city’s underground drainage system has been greatly hit by deposition of tons of plastic in the sewer lines.

“Plastic wastes thrown on the streets in bulk quantity either by a section of households or by shop owners choke the manholes. Large amount of plastic materials is carried through the brick sewer lines and finally they are deposited in the drainage pumping stations. Most of these materials are responsible for making pumps defunct thereby broadening the scope for large-scale waterlogging” said a KMC drainage department official. “We will lend every support to the civic crack team for minimizing the plastic menace in the city,” said a KMC drainage department official.