The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued notices to 209 bulk waste generators in south Mumbai, including the Mantralaya (state secretariat), and slapped Rs 10,000 fine on each one of them for not segregating waste and treating it.
A senior official of the A administrative ward of the BMC said these bulk waste generators include several government establishments, hotels, exhibition organisers, malls, etc.
"They were neither following the segregation rules nor responding to our reminders. Therefore, we issued notices to them and slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on each one of them," he said.
The notices were issued under the provisions of section 368 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, which gives power to the ward officer to impose the penalty up to Rs 10,000.
"The notices were issued recently after our inspection teams found that these establishments were not following the rules of waste segregation. We applied a common yardstick and issued noticed to each of these establishments, including the Mantralaya and also to the societies where judges and IAS officers stay," municipal commissioner of A-ward, Kiran Dighawkar, said.
The responsibility of managing the daily affairs of the government buildings, including Mantralaya, lies with the Public Works Department and hence that department has been asked to pay the penalty and follow the rules.
"After the notices were served, a few people came forward saying they would follow the rules, while a few others sought extension of deadline for the segregation of waste," Dighawkar said.
Acting tough, the BMC had recently de-registered 253 Advanced Locality Management (ALM) groups for failing to follow the rules of better waste management in housing societies and neighbourhoods.
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