Segregate trash or face fine: BMC

Mumbai: The residents of ‘A’ (Colaba, Churchgate, Nariman Point, Churchgate) ward will be fined if their garbage is not segregated. The local authority — the  Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) — with the help of Clean Mumbai Foundation will start fining societies that do not segregate waste.

The move is implement with the aim to maximise waste segregation and the fine will be imposed after the BMC elections.

Kulti Ojha from Clean Mumbai segregation said, “Our foundation works in collaboration with the civic authority. From around 500 societies in the ward at least 150 were approached and informed about the importance of waste segregation. Sixty of them have not only been responding well but also have been asking to segregate their waste.”

Ms Ojha added that A ward was considered for this initiative owing to the seven millions population of the area.

The societies in Churchgate, Cuffe Parade, Nariman Point have been sincerely segregating waste since past six months but according to the Oval Cooperage Residents Association, there is a need to impose fine on the societies, so that more people join us in this initiative.  

Kiran Dighavkar, Assistant Municipal Commissioner of A ward, said, “We have always been working towards various issues in the ward among which waste segregation is an important issue. There has been a good response from people in the ward, but in order to have better results, we will start fining people in case they fail to segregate waste. According to rules, the civic body has authority to collect fine, which we will now start imposing.”   

On December 5 last year, the BMC’s improvement committee cleared a proposal to bring about changes in the Development Control Regulations (DCR) 1991. According to the proposal, BMC dry and wet waste segregation will soon be made compulsory for all housing societies. Also, new constructions will have to set up waste segregation plants, which will be one of the pre-conditions for securing building permission.