Bengaluru to file criminal cases against citizens burning garbage; BSWML begins crackdown

BENGALURU: The Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited is set to initiate criminal cases against those who burn garbage. Karee Gowda, Chief Executive Officer, BSWML, said the agency will empower engineers, marshals, and Junior Health Inspectors to book criminal cases now onwards. Burning garbage causes air pollution. Garbage after segregation is sent to processing plant where it is burned to generate power. We will encourage people to share videos of people burning garbage, said Gowda. As a first step to instill fear, the BSWML will start with a few cases in a few days time, based on the inputs and proof of garbage being burnt. Case will be booked as per the Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2016, the Environment Protection Act, 1986, and cases will be registered under Section 19 (5) of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, and other relevant Acts and sections. Meanwhile, on Saturday, the BSWML team, along with a few marshals, caught a resident at Bharath Nagar near Manyata Tech Park for burning garbage and imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000. The provisions and rules are already there, but the municipality did not implement them strictly. Now, with direction from Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister DK Shivakumar to set the garbage management right in GBA limits, the authorities say they have been given the freedom to discipline the litterbugs and persons who burn garbage. There is a provision to impose a penalty of Rs 1 lakh or jail term up to five years under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, as the burning of garbage violates the citizens Right to Pure and Fresh Air, which has been recognized as a part of the Right to Life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, said a senior environmental engineer. Nalini Shekhar from Harisu Dala, an NGO working to empower waste pickers and address the segregation issue, said that the garbage burning, especially the e-waste, has come down drastically as all the stakeholders held a continuous campaign from 2011 to 2014. Municipal solid waste is being burned in some places. Some level of deterrence is needed, and if serious action is taken, it will be reduced. To start with, a hefty penalty has to be imposed against people burning garbage, said Shekhar.