Ranchi: Waste from households, residential complexes and commercial establishments will not be collected by the city’s sanitation workers from April 1 if they are not segregated, the Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) announced on Friday.
Erring citizens, who are found to be repeat offenders, will face a slew of punitive measures including disconnection of water supply, suspension of utility services, and cessation of waste collection services, the civic body said.
The decision to impose a complete ban on collection of mixed waste during door-to-door collection services was taken at a meeting held on Friday. Officials said a public awareness drive will be launched soon to enforce the move.
RMC administrator Sandeep Singh issued the directives during a review meeting of civic body’s sanitation cell to take stock of the waste collection, generation and other activities. The move comes as the RMC struggles with its waste management efforts as waste is not segregated at source of collection.
A waste-to-gas generation plant has also been set up by GAIL on city outskirts in Jhiri area with a total capacity of 150 tons per day by converting segregated waste into energy and fertilizer. However, the plant as well as the civic body has been facing issues of unsegregated waste generating at the source.
Additional administrator Sanjay Kumar, who was part of the meeting, said the RMC had been appealing people to keep dry and wet waste separately so that garbage collectors during door-to-door collection can pick it easily. The collected waste is then sent to the waste disposal plant.
“Now, we have decided to impose strict segregation rules at source for all residents, commercial establishments, and bulk waste generators,” he said, adding that to ensure compliance, RMC will also be taking punitive measures for persistent violators.
“The punitive actions will range from disconnection of water supply, suspension of utility services, and cessation of waste collection services. The corporation will issue formal notices to repeated offenders before implementing these penalties,” he said.
A special monitoring team, comprising the assistant administrator, city manager, and sanitary inspectors, will oversee the implementation from primary collection to final disposal at the Jhiri dumping site.
While a private agency M/s Swachhta Corporation is tasked with door-to-door collection of waste, M/s Zonta manages the secondary collection.
Officials said the RMC is also updating its bulk waste generator database to include markets, hotels, marriage halls, and apartments for issuances of special instructions regarding waste segregation protocols.