Segregate at source, or else...

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The state government was seriously considering introducing rules and regulations for penalising those disposing of waste in hazardous and unscientific ways, law and parliamentary affairs and urban development minister, S. Suresh Kumar disclosed here on Tuesday.

Participating in a workshop on the challenges local bodies faced in disposing municipal solid waste, Mr Kumar said only strong rules could deter people from carrying out unscientific disposal of waste and polluting the environment.

“Neither those in charge of the city, nor its people have any concern for it. It is unfortunate that the concern should have to be enforced through the law. The city had to face a garbage crisis recently because it has not managed its waste as it should have,” the minister said, regretting that the urban local bodies had not only failed in solid waste management but also in persuading the public to carry out segregation at source.

"It is ridiculous that the local bodies had to be pulled up by the high court. It has now directed them to impose a penalty of Rs 100 against those failing to segregate waste at source," he noted, adding, “Our citizens are conditioned to following the rules of the land when abroad, but once they emerge from the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) they seem conditioned to breaking them.”

Emphasising that proper collection, transportation and segregation of waste would solve 80 per cent of the garbage problem, he warned that the people and and civic bodies were ignoring this at their own risk. " If the garbage is not dealt with properly, the people and those managing the city could pay a heavy price. Surat city suffered a plague once as a result of its garbage. But now it has turned into a beautiful city. The citizens, public representative and officials of Bengaluru need to adopt the Surat model for scientific disposal of waste," he said.