NGT stick likely for shop owners flouting clean rule

SHILLONG: The Shillong Municipal Board has resolved to act tough against shopkeepers who do not maintain cleanliness within 5-meter radius around their shops. The SMB has said it would even report the names of erring shopkeepers to the National Green Tribunal for legal action.
Official of the Board said that the Board would now take stringent action against “shopkeepers who don’t keep their 5-meter radius clean”. “We will even send their names to the National Green Tribunal,” officials said and added that many of the shopkeepers who have not bought the colour-coded dustbins for segregation of waste will now be penalised.
The Board would start checking and defaulters will be fined Rs 5,000. “If they don’t adhere to the norms, their names would be sent to NGT for further action,” SMB officials said.
The shopkeepers had been asked to buy green and blue dustbins for segregation of waste under the Asian Development Bank (ADB) project.
Meanwhile, in its bid to keep the town clean, the Board has started a new waste management programme with a group of employees from SMB picking up garbage from roads and later segregating it at the marten. Officials informed that the team comprising of inspectors, supervisors and cleaners visit different areas of Shillong and pick up garbage lying on the road.
The group is working in two shifts from morning till evening and they often visit areas like Police Bazar, Laitumkhrah among others.
“Now we also don’t allow open burning of garbage,” officials said.