During the challan drive in Sector 20, Chandigarh, on Tuesday. (Express photo/Jaipal Singh)ON THE first day of challan drive for not following waste segregation, 41 challans, including one to a door-to-door waste collector, were issued on Tuesday. The challans were issued in sectors 22, 20, 23, Manimajra, Ramdarbar, and Hallomarja. All the challans were issued for Rs 200 under Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.
The remaining 40 challans included 11 against shopkeepers and private house owners. The garbage collector, Gajadhar, was challaned in Manimajra for not depositing the segregated waste at MC’s Sehaj Safari Kendra (secondary collection point).
In Sector 23, one of the enforcement teams out of five faced resentment from the local residents, who raised strong objection to the challan drive and the presence of MC cameraman.
According to MC officials, a few of the challaned persons paid the fine on the spot and others agreed to pay the fine at MC office, Sector 17.
Municipal Commissioner K K Yadav said, “The challan drive will continue. Today people were challaned for Rs 200. But in the coming days, the fine will be increased. Shortly, we are going to conduct checking and challan drive in hotels, commercial establishments and showrooms. Non- segregated waste will not be accepted at any cost in Chandigarh.”
Om Parkash, health superintendent with MC, said, “We challaned the general public, shopkeepers and one garbage collector. We faced opposition in Sector 23. But later, it was resolved. We have been continuously conducting awareness drives about waste segregation for a long time. At some points, we noticed people followed rules by giving dry and wet garbage separately to the garbage collectors.”
Different teams under the supervision of five chief inspectors conducted the challan drive throughout Chandigarh. The civic body had issued a notice regarding segregation of waste at source level recently mentioning that the MC will not take mixed garbage from the households and take appropriate action against the defaulters. Different teams of sanitation wing of MC inspected their respective areas throughout the city and challaned the defaulters, who did not give segregated waste to the door-to-door waste collectors.