LMC to fine citizens who fail to handover waste to collectors

LUCKNOW: It will be mandatory for citizens to give household waste daily to private contractors authorized by the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC). Those who fail to do so will be fined Rs 1,000.

On May 8, 2019, LMC announced that door-to-door garbage collection will be extended to the entire city within a week, which is limited to 60 per cent localities at present. On the directions of the High Court, the new set of instructions is part of the action plan prepared by the LMC. After hearing a petition, the court rapped the civic body for negligence in cleaningthe city. “While Eco-Green, LMC’s partner company, will cover 60 per cent localities, the remaining will be allocated to other private contractors. People will have to give garbage to authorised collectors and not to those hired individually by them,” said Indramani Tripathi, Municipal Commissioner. 

In a conversation with Urban Update, Saurabh Singh, control room executive of LMC said, “If someone denies to handover the waste to the collector reasoning that there is no waste then the corporation can conduct an inspection, if under suspicion. In case of people who recycle waste at home, the LMC can conduct an inspection for the same as well.”

“The contractors authorised by LMC will collect garbage and send it to the waste treatment plant in Shivri as per guidelines of the National Green Tribunal (NGT),” said Tripathi. LMC records show that about 5.8 lakh households in the city produce about 960 tons of garbage. Of this, 60 per cent (576 ton) is collected by Eco-Green through door-to-door garbage collection, while 40 per cent (384 ton) is either collected by the LMC sanitary staff or private staff hired by citizens. 

He said that the rule was made followingthe revelation that private garbage collectors hired by the people were dumping garbage in the open after collectingfrom the houses. Often, they throw garbage in areas which are not in the LMC list. As a result, LMC sanitary workers do not clean the area and soon these areas turn into garbage dumps.

Officials said that the sanitary staff of LMC will prepare a list of residents who are not giving their household garbage and will present it to the corporation which will then send their zonal staff to impose penalty.