Representative image. Photograph:( AFP )
Pundkar took the decision after seeing a woman throw garbage on a road, while sanitation workers were on waste-collection duty.
The Kakinada Municipal Commissioner Swapnil Dinakar Pundkar has come up with a unique way of teaching the residents who irresponsibly dump garbage on the streets or on the road, a lesson.
The sanitation workers will bring the garbage back to the person's house who is littering on the roads, or worse the person can be fined after one warning.
This as per a new cleanliness initiative by Kakinada Municipal Corporation.
Kakinada is the 6th largest city of Indian State of Andhra Pradesh and serves as the district headquarters of East Godavari district of the State.
Pundkar took the decision after seeing a woman throw garbage on a road, while sanitation workers were on waste-collection duty.
Pundkar, who was supervising the work, immediately asked a worker to take the garbage back to the house of the woman. When the shocked house owner tried to resist, the municipal commissioner explained to her not to litter roads, but hand it over to the sanitation workers who come to collect garbage.
Return gift..Kakinada municipal commissioner Swapnil Dinakar expressed anger over a resident who was throwing garbage on road side. he then took more garbage from the street and threw it in the verandah of the house of the violator. #SwachhBharatSwasthBharat #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/hWm5pD4Whh
— Sudhakar Udumula (@sudhakarudumula) November 5, 2020
"If any person is found littering roads, he or she will be warned first. If caught again, a fine will be imposed on them. This is our attempt to create awareness in the public," he said.
Pundkar added there are 900 sanitation workers in Kakinada, exclusively for collecting garbage.
"They collect garbage from 7 am to 9 am. Every house is given an RFID ("radio frequency identification) tag, which the sanitation worker scans so that their physical presence at every household is registered. Most people are responding well to this, but not all," he said, adding that in the next three months, garbage collection will be categorised into wet and dry.
"Now, we are collecting all kinds of garbage together. After three months or so, we will start collecting dry and wet garbage separately. People have a habit of throwing garbage near waste bins, rather than inside them. So we are planning to remove the dumper bins in the city within a year. We want Kakinada to stand ahead in the race for Smart Cities. Sanitation and cleanliness are our priorities," he said.
(With inputs from ANI)