Now, SMC to name, shame ‘garbage offenders’

Tribune News Service
Shimla, November 18

In a bold new initiative, “garbage (kuda) offenders” have come under the scanner of the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) as it has cracked a whip on them by catching them under the CCTV cameras, then naming, shaming and booking them under the HP Municipal corporation Act, 1994, in its bid make the capital city as Swachh city under the Swachh Bharat Mission. 

The Shimla Municipal Corporation caught its first two offenders on the CCTV camera installed in the wards. 

The corporation has decided to name and shame them publicly and book them under the HPMC Act. ”They were caught emptying their waste bins alongside the road. The surveillance teams have initiated action against them and are ascertaining their home address, said Municipal Commissioner Pankaj Rai. 

The SMC has sounded the residents to handover the garbage to house garbage collectors and help catch the “garbage offenders”. The idea is to make the city garbage-free and swachh for all residents, Rai said. 

He said the SMC had installed six CCTV cameras in different parts of the city where the garbage offenders continue to dump waste in the open.

As many as eight more cameras will be installed in other places identified for the problem of garbage littering, he added.

To ensure compliance and catch “kuda offenders”, the SMC has put in place five surveillance teams in the city. 

The garbage offenders who are caught littering alongside the roads or streets or surrounding nullahs by throwing the garbage blatantly in violation of the Act will face action. 

“We seek cooperation of the residents welfare societies and other citizen forums and have already started the Swachhta helpline for the residents”, Rai said.