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Garbage menace haunts Kochi
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Despite the initiatives of the local authorities, Kochi seems to be finding it difficult to get rid of its waste management problems.
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Handling problems: Kochi city is yet to have an effective waste management set-up.
The waste management issue continues to haunt the city. Even as the City Corporation is buying time to get its waste-management plant ready, the system of collecting waste from households and public places is yet to yield the desired results.
About a year ago, the city faced an acute waste management problem as it ran out of places to dump waste.
The attitude of people needs to change, said Mayor Mercy Williams. “They see the waste management issue as the Corporation’s problem, not a civic problem for which the people’s cooperation is an utmost requirement,” she said.
The bylaws passed recently by the Corporation with regard to it cannot be strictly enforced till they are ratified by the State government, Prof. Williams said when asked about the effectiveness of the legislation. Punitive action may be necessary against members of the public if the waste-management norms continue to be ignored, said a Health official in the Corporation.
The Corporation does not have a workforce of its own to collect waste door to door, the Mayor said. But whatever is brought to the collection point is taken care of by the local body. However, people prefer to throw packets of non-segregated waste in public places and make the work of Corporation workers more difficult.
Segregation
The buckets given away to residents to segregate waste are being used for other purposes, said the Corporation official. Probably, the attitude will change when the Corporation starts levying a fine for not segregating waste or get people who throw waste in public places arrested, the official said. It is likely that the people will continue to be slack in following the rules relating to waste disposal, the official said.
If people are not ready to pay a small amount to clear the waste that they generate, it is rather sad, said an office-bearer of a residents’ association. There are quite a few instances of people avoiding to pay up for the service for which workers have been employed by residents’ associations, he said. They are the ones who take the waste generated in their house to public places for dumping, he added. For them, waste management is not their issue, but that of the local body, he said.
The Corporation had, in association with many residents’ associations, run a campaign on cleanliness and effective waste management through the segregation of waste. Waste has to be segregated at the generation point.
Prof. Williams said that she had talked about the issue on umpteen platforms as it was one of the most important problems confronting Kochi.
With the city attracting more and more tourists and being favoured for many new projects, waste management has to be dealt with strictly and the local body needs the support of the people, she said.
SHYAMA RAJAGOPAL
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Property Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
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Malabar
Thiruvananthapuram
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