After SC rebuke, Chandigarh notifies solid waste management policy

Four days after the Supreme Court rap, the Chandigarh administration on Tuesday notified the solid waste management policy, giving itself two years to make the city garbage-free and ensure 100% waste segregation besides scientific processing of the entire refuse.

The UT sprang into action after the apex court on August 31 ordered a ban on construction works in Chandigarh for its failure to notify the policy despite the central regulation framed two years back in 2016.

Chandigarh local bodies secretary Arun Kumar Gupta said with the policy being notified, the SC’s construction ban has been lifted.

“We will soon inform court about the policy formation,” he said.

The city at present is struggling with poor waste management due to lack of segregation and issues with the processing facility.

According to the policy notification, the local bodies department wants to achieve the segregation of wet, dry and hazardous waste along with door-to-door collection of segregated waste within two years, while setting itself even a more challenging target of December 31, 2019. Similar deadlines and targets have been set for other objectives in the policy as well (see box).

Mayor Davesh Moudgil said that making the city garbage-free is his main priority.

Municipal commissioner KK Yadav said the civic body has already begun the process to achieve the target as envisaged in the policy. “We will definitely meet the deadline for all crucial works,” he said.

Bylaws with penalties soon

After the policy notification, the next major responsibility of the Chandigarh administration and MC is to get solid waste management bylaws notified.

These bylaws propose user charges for waste collection and penalties for residents, institutions and commercial establishments as well as the waste collectors for flouting the rules. Gupta said the bylaws will be notified soon to empower the civic body with provisions to implement the vision of the policy within the stipulated time.

The MC House has already approved the bylaws in its July meeting.

The civic body has proposed penalties for more than 15 types of violation of the waste management rules.

Failure to hand over segregated waste to the door-to-door collectors will invite a penalty of Rs 200 in case of a residential unit and Rs 10,000 for commercial units, including multiplexes, clubs and cinema halls.

Those found littering will be fined Rs 10,000. Under the rules, throwing debris at an unauthorised place will invite a penalty of Rs 1,000 for residential units and Rs 5,000 for non-residential ones. Burning solid waste in the open will cost the violator Rs 5,000, once the bylaws are notified.

First Published: Sep 05, 2018 10:23 IST