SHILLONG: The cracking of whip by Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) in terms of imposing hefty fine on people disposing garbage in the open has brought a halt on such activities to some extent.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Board, BS Sohliya, said that while the move is fulfilling its primary motive, viz., deterring people from throwing garbage in the open, it has also brought about slight improvement in people’s attitude. “We find that people have become more conscious of the fact that they should not throw garbage in the open,” he said, while adding that the SMB has even gone to the extent of imposing fine on its own people when they dump garbage into drains.
In one of the recent notices, the Board imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on a person for disposing the garbage at an open space in GS Road, while another was fined Rs 30,000 in violation of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2006, for disposing garbage at an open space in Oakland.
The Board is imposing fines based on the direction of the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The SMB has also directed the Meghalaya Khadi and Village Industries Commission to direct its staff to dispose the wastes in the municipal garbage collection vehicle. The move followed an incident in which garbage from the Commission’s office was reportedly disposed at an open space at Oakland near Forest office.