A CORRESPONDENT
LAKHIMPUR: The North Lakhimpur Municipal Board (NLMB) has initiated various steps to keep the town clean. As part of such initiatives, the civic body has decided to collect household waste from the residential houses under the urban area. In order to execute this step, the permanent and temporary garbage bins have been done away with and the dumping of waste matter on roadside has been prohibited. The families living in the town areas have been suggested to segregate the biotic and non-biotic waste matters and to keep them deposited in two separate bins until these are collected by municipal employees. The collected plastic waste will be used for constructing road or plastic fences after transforming them to useful substances through scientific process.
Meanwhile, cleaning of the town continues with five mini hydraulic vans donated by Numaligarh Refinery Limited. The advantage of these vans is that they can enter the nook and corners of the town even through the narrow lanes.
The NLMB will impose fine on those who dirty the town. If any person dumps any garbage or carcass in a cleaned place of the town, he will be charged penalty of certain amount. On the other hand, those who inform about people who dirty the town along with photographs will be awarded with the 50 per cent of the charged penalty. The identity of the informer will not be made public. These rates of fines were determined as per municipal by-law.
As per the decision taken, Rs. 500 will be charged for polluting roads and streets, open defecation, feeding of animals or poultry in open places or roads instead of fixed places. Similarly, Rs. 300 will be charged for bathing, washing utensils and clothes in public places.
On the other hand, fines of Rs. 250 will be imposed for spitting in public places. Rs. 200 for the individual establishments while Rs 1,000 for commercial institutions will be charged for not depositing the waste matters after segregating. Similarly, Rs. 2000 will be charged for the non-management of the waste matters produced due to construction or any reconstruction work. A fine of Rs. 200 will be charged for burning waste matters, Rs. 750 for non-segregation and management of waste matters produced by fish sellers and butchers and Rs. 500 for not keeping the front yard of residential houses clean. The NLMB will execute these penalties from October 2.