MC employees violate law on burning garbage in open

Ludhiana: While on one hand the civic authorities are making residents implement proper solid waste management by segregating the waste at home, employees working in the municipal corporation (MC) seem to care little about the proper disposal of the waste. For this reason only, they pile up garbage at one place and set it on fire, especially in old market areas of the city. Every morning, the garbage collected from the roads after sweeping is burnt there only. This is clear violation of the guidelines of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), according to which burning of waste in the open has been banned.
The NGT while issuing the directions to the MC had imposed ban on waste burning on December 23, 2016, and the civic body was asked to conduct special checking drives to curb the menace. However, the officials claimed that they had passed on the instructions to the sanitation department inspectors to conduct a challaning drive and catch hold of persons who burn waste and violate law. The officials claimed some shopkeepers were also habitual of burning the waste after sweeping the portion of road in front of their shops.
According to the directions of the NGT, an individual caught burning waste will have to shell out Rs 5,000 while for bulk waste burning incidents the penalty amount Rs 25,000.
A resident of Daresi, Ankush Jain complained that it was a common practice among the sanitation staff and some of the shopkeepers to put garbage on fire in routine. He said every morning people could be seen polluting the environment daily and the authorities concerned are unable to take action.
Another resident from Civil Lines Isha Sharma complained that in their area every morning MC sweepers come, sweep, gather the garbage in one corner and then it put on fire. She alleged that they had stopped the sanitation staff several times but the latter started arguing with them. She demanded action must be taken against such employees because this practice had an adverse effect on the public health.
Meanwhile, sanitation inspector of zone A Ashwani Sahota said they had given directions to the sanitation staff to not to burn garbage and also issue challans to the defaulters. He said even if any such practice is rampant, he will make sure to get it checked.