Garbage rule violators might be fined heavily from September
Heavy fines would be imposed on anyone who litters, dumps waste and construction debris, uses banned plastic items or does not segregate waste at the source, according to a new proposal drafted and sent by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to the government. These revised fine amounts are likely to be in place from September, said BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad.
The proposal identified and drafted the fines to be incorporated in the Solid Waste Management (SWM) by-laws for effective implementation of SWM Rules 2016. The state-level SWM Policy, which is being prepared by the Urban Development Department, will be adopted by the BBMP.
To levy the fines, the BBMP is recruiting 233 marshals and is also tying up with HDFC Bank, which would provide 500 hand-held machines to collect fines that will be used by assistant executive engineers, medical officers of health, health inspectors and marshals.
Prasad added that only wet waste will be collected by contractors from September 1, while dry waste will be picked up twice a week by rag pickers.
Meanwhile, the BBMP has also proposed mandatory segregation of waste by government staff and processing of wet waste in offices and employees’ houses. It sent a proposal to the Urban Development Department to transform all government offices and houses into zero waste zones.
The BBMP’s vision is to reduce the waste sent to landfills to 13-15% through processing of waste, as well as by encouraging decentralised and in-situ processing.
Source: The Hindu | Deccan Herald | Bangalore Mirror
Govt asked to identify school dropouts
A night survey, conducted on the lines of the Census, should be carried out in August, especially in Bengaluru, to assess the actual number of school dropouts, said Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar to the Department of Women and Child Development. He was addressing a state-level inter-departmental high-power committee on bringing dropouts back to school. The survey should identify children taking shelter in bus stands, under flyovers and in parks, he said.
According to the Students Achievement Tracking System (SATS) of the Education Department, 70,000 children aged 6-18 years have been identified as dropouts. However, the system does not identify a child who has never been enrolled in a school. At present, any child absent from school for 60 days or more is considered a dropout.
Source: Deccan Herald
Varsity focus on green, holistic education
Colleges affiliated to Bangalore University (BU) will teach more about air and water pollution from the coming academic year of 2019-20. The topics will include solid waste management, environment protection, resources, civic and disaster management, among others. BU Vice-Chancellor K R Venugopal said colleges should also give importance to value-based education, yoga and meditation classes. Four study cells on Buddha, B.R. Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda should be established in every college under the univesity for “holistic” education, he added.
Source: The Hindu
Spread awareness about plastic: Vendors to BBMP
Representatives of the street vendors’ association asked the BBMP to create awareness and spread public awareness advertisements asking people to carry cotton or jute bags, instead of demanding plastic bags from vendors. They asked why the civic bodies fine only the vendors and not the customers, who demand plastic bags for their purchases. The vendors voiced their grievances at a meeting held by the waste management committee, as per the National Green Tribunal’s directions.
Source: Deccan Herald
[Compiled by Revathi Siva Kumar]