Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: Now GMC (Guwahati Municipal Corporation) is going to introduce a luck draw initiative on the cleanliness front. The move is aimed at bringing about public awareness on cleanliness and ensuring public involvement in it. According to the scheme, the civic body is going to provide a few contract numbers to which any conscious citizen can send photographs of garbage piles anywhere in Guwahati through whatsapps or emails. The public can even avail the numbers for sending the video clips of people throwing garbage on roadside or any other places other than garbage bins. The lucky draw will be conducted among citizens sending such pictures, and the luckiest among them may go with Rs 500 as rewards.
The five numbers issued by the civic body for this scheme are – 7399003003, 7399003004, 7399003002, 9399003001 and 88110070000.
GMC (Guwahati Municipal Corporation) Commissioner Debeswar Malakar has said that solid waste is not a liability, but an asset.
Talking to the media here on Monday, Malakar gave a detailed account as to how the problem of dumping garbage in Guwahati can be solved. According to him, this is a common problem in most of the metropolitan cities in the country. “We did write to the State Revenue department seeking 50 bighas of land for the disposal of garbage, but we haven’t got land as yet. The problem lies in the fact that everywhere there are water bodies. Protests from the local populace are always there. We also have taken up the matter with the Kamrup district administration,” Malakar said and added: “Now we’re laying stress on solid waste management. We’re planning to generate power from waste. We’ve already called tenders. Guwahati produces around 500 tonnes of garbage every day. However, the capacity of the solid waste management plant at Boragaon is just ten tonnes. We’re laying stress on segregation of wastes. To make that happen, we need an attitudinal change. Already 58 NGOs have been collecting garbage from Guwahati. They’re collecting garbage door-to-door. If they don’t to their job regularly, we’ve met in the form of flying squad deployed behind them, and for other purposes. Flying squads will go for random checking of garbage collection. If any leave outhouses without collecting garbage, it will have cut in payment for those houses.”
Malakar further said: “We’re also contemplating on making industries and factories for compulsory installation of their own solid waste management plants.”