4-member panel formed to decide garbage collection rates

Ludhiana: With only five days left for the deadline fixed for adoption of Solid Waste Management and Cleanliness and Sanitation Bylaws 2019, civic authorities have formed a four-member committee to decide the rates for door- to-door garbage collection and penalties for violating bylaws. The Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company (PMIDC) of the local government had asked civic authorities to adopt these bylaws by September 15, and if need be, bring some changes as per local needs.
In the Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) meeting late on Monday evening, the members decided to frame a committee for fixing charges as per the city’s requirement and avoiding any clash over it at a later stage. It is not clear whether the committee would be able to give its report before September 15, and a house meeting called for adoption of these bylaws. In this committee, Congress councillors Parvinder Lapran, Money Grewal, Manisha Taparia, and Rashi Aggarwal are included, and these members will be given copies of bylaws to study and decide the rates for door-to-door collection of waste, as well as the penalty amount.
Meanwhile, zonal commissioner Neeraj Jain shared that before implementing anything in the city, they would have to study everything in detail, so that it should not backfire on them. He said the committee members would read the bylaws and decide, and they have been asked to do it as soon as possible. The bylaws are meant for implementing proper disposal of solid waste from household to the processing plant. According to these bylaws, residents have to segregate the waste and hand it over to garbage collectors. Also, nobody is allowed to throw garbage in the open, on the roadsides, or litter a public place. For various violations, the penalties are fixed.
For organizing public gathering or events at public places, organizers will have to deposit security money with the civic body, and permission will have to be taken three days in advance. The security money will be refunded by the civic body once the organizers ensure proper disposal of garbage at the place where the event happened. If any person violates bylaws and fails to pay the penalty, then he can be asked to do community service for at least one hour, like road sweeping or graffiti cleaning.
Earlier also, a few important bylaws or policies were notified by the local bodies department, including the parking policy, bylaws for registration, control of stray animals, compensation to victims of animal attack, and advertisement policy. Even for these policies and bylaws, committees were framed, but only the advertisement policy was adopted and implemented, because civic authorities had to hand over the advertisement contract to private firms. Now, it has to be seen whether the sanitation bylaws will be implemented or remain only on paper.