21 hours Ago
Pune: The civic body plans to step up action against littering in public places by doubling the number of flying squad vehicles. Ten new vehicles will be added to the flying squads, which will catch offenders found violating solid waste management guidelines for public sanitation. Earlier, PMC had only 8 vehicles.
Fines will be levied for offences like spitting in public places, using banned plastic, garbage burning, and throwing trash in public areas. Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has filed over 72,000 cases and collected fines of Rs 4 crore from violators since Oct 2023. PMC has confiscated nearly 6,000 kg of banned plastic in a year's time.
As per the directives of PMC, manufacturing, importing, stocking, distribution, and sale of single-use plastic has been banned. These items include plastic and polypropylene bags. PMC has given directives based on the lines of the central govt's order in 2022.
The ban has been introduced on wrapping or packaging films around sweet boxes, plastic cutlery, straws, and plastic sticks for balloons and ear buds, invitation cards, cigarette packets, etc. According to PMC officials, the civic administration has been carrying out the drive at 15 ward offices. The squad vehicles are being used at multiple ward offices.
But after the induction of 10 more vehicles, each ward office will have one dedicated vehicle. "As more vehicles are available, the civic staff will be able to carry out more actions with the added vehicles. Awareness about public sanitation is being done," said Sandip Kadam, head of PMC's solid waste department.
According to citizens, new-age technologies should be used to prevent nuisances such as spitting in public places. "Littering may lead to health hazards. Spitting can lead to spread of airborne diseases.
Burning of garbage can also be hazardous to health and environment," said Ketaki Paranjape, a resident of Sinhagad Road. Chinmay Joshi of Katraj said that more manpower should be deployed at locations like markets, traffic signals, and bus stops. "Many private and public establishments have CCTVs near such crowded places.
These are being used to catch traffic violators and solve criminal cases. The administration should also keep a watch on people defacing or littering civic areas using these cameras," he said. "After any celebration in the city, the streets lie in squalor.
It takes a few days, and sometimes constant follow ups with the ward offices for the litter to be cleared. I have noticed lack of garbage bins along Wanowrie, NIBM Road and Camp, which may be the reason why there is so much litter around," said Shruti Desai, a resident of Wanowrie. As per civic officials, the action is being taken under special solid waste management guidelines approved by PMC in 2016.
These guidelines have described a number of offences. These include garbage burning, open defecation, non-segregation of wet and dry garbage, throwing trash in public places, not handing over garbage to ragpickers. Along with the regular action, drives to catch the offenders are also carried out during festive periods.
The fine ranges between Rs 200 and Rs 1,000 for each offence. Pune: The civic body plans to step up action against littering in public places by doubling the number of flying squad vehicles. Ten new vehicles will be added to the flying squads, which will catch offenders found violating solid waste management guidelines for public sanitation.
Earlier, PMC had only 8 vehicles. Fines will be levied for offences like spitting in public places, using banned plastic, garbage burning, and throwing trash in public areas. Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has filed over 72,000 cases and collected fines of Rs 4 crore from violators since Oct 2023.
PMC has confiscated nearly 6,000 kg of banned plastic in a year's time. As per the directives of PMC, manufacturing, importing, stocking, distribution, and sale of single-use plastic has been banned. These items include plastic and polypropylene bags.
PMC has given directives based on the lines of the central govt's order in 2022. The ban has been introduced on wrapping or packaging films around sweet boxes, plastic cutlery, straws, and plastic sticks for balloons and ear buds, invitation cards, cigarette packets, etc. According to PMC officials, the civic administration has been carrying out the drive at 15 ward offices.
The squad vehicles are being used at multiple ward offices. But after the induction of 10 more vehicles, each ward office will have one dedicated vehicle. "As more vehicles are available, the civic staff will be able to carry out more actions with the added vehicles.
Awareness about public sanitation is being done," said Sandip Kadam, head of PMC's solid waste department. According to citizens, new-age technologies should be used to prevent nuisances such as spitting in public places. "Littering may lead to health hazards.
Spitting can lead to spread of airborne diseases. Burning of garbage can also be hazardous to health and environment," said Ketaki Paranjape, a resident of Sinhagad Road. Chinmay Joshi of Katraj said that more manpower should be deployed at locations like markets, traffic signals, and bus stops.
"Many private and public establishments have CCTVs near such crowded places. These are being used to catch traffic violators and solve criminal cases. The administration should also keep a watch on people defacing or littering civic areas using these cameras," he said.
"After any celebration in the city, the streets lie in squalor. It takes a few days, and sometimes constant follow ups with the ward offices for the litter to be cleared. I have noticed lack of garbage bins along Wanowrie, NIBM Road and Camp, which may be the reason why there is so much litter around," said Shruti Desai, a resident of Wanowrie.
As per civic officials, the action is being taken under special solid waste management guidelines approved by PMC in 2016. These guidelines have described a number of offences. These include garbage burning, open defecation, non-segregation of wet and dry garbage, throwing trash in public places, not handing over garbage to ragpickers.
Along with the regular action, drives to catch the offenders are also carried out during festive periods. The fine ranges between Rs 200 and Rs 1,000 for each offence. Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India .
Don't miss daily games like Crossword , Sudoku , Location Guesser and Mini Crossword ..
