Mysuru Corporation to deploy marshals to check littering, penalise violators

MYSURU: Litter bugs and those throwing away waste at public places across the city must think twice before indulging in littering as Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has planned to deploy ward level marshals to penalise violators across the city.

Similar on the lines of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) which has marshals who slap on spot fines among those littering and violating civic rules, MCC has also planned to empower its sanitary supervisors across all 65 wards in the city and make them 'Swachhata Marshals' who will be empowered to levy fines on citizens throwing waste and littering at public places.

Confirming this, MCC commissioner Gurudatta Hegde said, "We are planning to give powers to sanitary supervisors to impose fines on those failing to segregate waste at source, dump waste at public places and to those behaving irresponsibly. We are planning to give an EDC machine to the marshals and have also plans to provide incentives to them. We shall issue an order in this regard shortly."

This comes as a sigh of relief to several environmentalists and residents who were complaining about throwing waste at public places and major conservancies in the city. This will not only improve cleanliness standards of the city but also help its prospects in the Swachh Survekshan ranking in which Mysuru is eyeing to bag the top spot.

Dr Nagaraj, MCC health officer, said it was in the planning stage and will be implemented in a week's time.

"They will be called Swachhata Ambassadors or Swachhata marshals who shall keep a check on littering and slap fines on those violating solid waste management regulations. The marshals will be provided with a uniform which will be helpful in identifying them as representatives of MCC and they will work round the clock supervising the ward cleanliness," he said.