Long after garbage segregation at source has become a norm in most municipalities, Krishnagiri Municipality still grapples with source segregation.
A significant number of areas is still not aware of garbage segregation, with their preoccupation being garbage disposal. In many wards, garbage collection itself is erratic. With push carts coming to collect garbage from the households on alternate days, source segregation for the households is of little concern, say residents of Basheer Mohammad Layout, Gandhi Nagar, that falls in Ward 32.
On Thursday, Domestic Breeding Checkers of the municipality were deployed to some of the areas in Ward 32 to chip in as garbage was being thrown into the push cart. Basheer Mohammad Layout is one of many areas that sees garbage collection every alternate day. This is the refrain in many parts of the town, where residents have claimed that there are forced to dump garbage on the streets because of irregular collection.
Though garbage collection and source segregation have been streamlined in large parts of the municipality according to municipal sources, the reality on the streets speaks otherwise. The municipality has put the blame on the public resistance, while the residents await for days together for the pushcart to come and collect garbage.
Under the Swatcch Bharat Mission, and funded by the Solid Waste Management funds, Krishnagiri Municipality was given six battery- operated vehicles for garbage collection. Staff accompanying the vehicles should monitor whether segregated waste is dumped in the bins for biodegradable and non-degradable waste.
However, the battery-operated vehicles were converted into ordinary garbage carts from the day one. Soon enough, even those vehicles vanished from the streets and were replaced by the push carts. Conservancy workers, who use push carts, said the battery- operated vehicles were flawed by design and were put away.
In Dharmapuri, separate staff “animators” are assigned to each vehicle to monitor that only segregated waste gets dumped in the bins. However, in Krishnagiri, the battery-operated vehicles are hardly used, and only eight animators are assigned for 33 wards, with each responsible for four wards.