Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) administration has asked Nuisance Detection Squad (NDS) to take ‘stringent’ action against those dumping garbage in public places. A penalty of Rs 100/- will be recovered from individuals, Rs 400/- from shops, Rs 1,000/- from educational institutions, Rs 2,000/- from hospitals etc. The penalty is aimed at making Nagpur ‘clean and beautiful’, and to improve the city’s ranking in sanitation and hygiene. Now, as per the directives of the civic administration, NDS will take stricter action against those who urinate in public places, throw garbage, spit, use plastic bags with thickness less than 50 microns. Ram Joshi, Additional Municipal Commissioner, issued the instructions to NDS in a meeting held on Monday.

 

Dr Gajendra Mahalle, Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Solid Waste Management); Veerasen Tambe, NDS Head, were present prominently. As per the decision taken in the meeting, any person throwing garbage in public places such as road, footpath, open spaces etc will have to pay Rs 100/-. Shopkeepers dumping garbage in public places like roads, footpaths, open spaces will have to pay penalty of Rs 400/-. Educational institutes and coaching classes dumping garbage in public places shall be charged Rs 1,000/-. Penalty of Rs 2,000/- will be levied on dispensaries, hospitals, pathology laboratories etc if they dump garbage in public places. The amount of penalty will be the same for malls, restaurants, lodging and boarding hotels, cinema halls, wedding halls, caterers, service providers etc. If businessmen with fixed construction/shop dump garbage/waste in public places, they will have to shell out Rs 2,000/- as penalty. Penalty amount is Rs 1,000/- for those keeping animals in public places, washing vehicles/animals in public places, chicken centres and meat sellers dumping garbage in public places, workshops/ garages/repair shop owners dumping waste in public places.

 

The amount of penalty will be Rs 400/- for very small/retail vendors doing business on pavements, handcarts. Besides, NDS will take action under Maharashtra Non-Degradable Waste Control Act, 2006 against manufacturers, sellers, stockists etc of plastic carry bags with less than defined thickness. In the meeting held on Monday, Joshi said that it was necessary to take action against citizens who threw garbage on streets and pavements, spit, polluted water sources, urinated on roadsides, used plastic bags etc to keep the city clean. If citizens or shopkeepers hand over garbage to sanitation workers, it will help in maintaining cleanliness in market areas.

 

He urged the citizens to use ‘Swachhta App’, and also register their complaints by downloading the app on their mobile phone handsets. “NMC shall redress the complaints as soon as possible,” he said. First, awareness will be created among people. Even after this, if garbage is found in public places and markets, penal action will be taken against violators. Joshi urged shopkeepers to keep green and blue waste bins in their shops to collect wet and dry waste. NMC has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Ved Foundation, through which members of Rotary Club, Swachh Sangathan are providing services. Cleanliness drive is being supported by NGOs like Green Vigil Foundation, Tejaswini Mahila Mandal, Rotary Club etc. “If all citizens decide to keep the city clean and beautiful, Nagpur can move higher in cleanliness ranking,” added Joshi. Sanjay Khandare, Dharmaraj Katre, Pawan Dongre, Narhari Virkade, Natthu Khandekar, Sushil Tupte, Premdas Tarwatkar, Sudhir Sudke, Sanjay Sonone, Narendra Turkar attended the meeting.