The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Tougher law to tackle solid waste

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Saturday, Aug 11, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Tougher law to tackle solid waste

Special Correspondent

It will have provision to arrest violators and ban plastics

Thiruvananthapuram: The State Government is planning to bring in stringent legislation to tackle the problem of solid waste management in local bodies. The legislation will include provisions to arrest violators and ban plastics.

The new move was announced by Principal Secretary, Local Administration, S.M. Vijayanand at a State-level consultation workshop on solid waste management, organised under the auspices of the Socio-Economic Unit Foundation.

Municipal chairpersons, who attended the workshop, favoured a legislation that would make littering a cognisable offence. A massive awareness campaign and inclusion of study material in schools were also proposed. The workshop decided to convene six regional consultation conferences to work out modalities in six areas related to solid waste management, including landfill.

More officials

The Secretary (Local Administration) T.K. Jose said that the Government had decided to induct an environment engineer, a legal officer, a financial officer, an executive secretary for municipal chairpersons and an additional secretary to exclusively handle solid waste management.

Some municipal chairpersons suggested that the local bodies ensure waste minimising, efficient collection and transportation and decentralised processing.

New technology

Inaugurating the workshop, Local Administration Minister Paloli Mohammed Kutty said that new technology should be used to tackle solid waste management in a decentralised regime. The Government would evaluate the efficiency of municipalities on the basis of their efforts to tackle solid waste management, he said.

Anoop Wadhawan, India Team leader of Water and Sanitation Programme, South Asia, partners in the workshop, said his organisation was willing to provide technical assistance to municipalities in setting up solid waste management facilities. Attempts could also be made to channelise financial assistance from the Urban Development Ministry, he added.

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