MC asks street vendors to use dustbins, warns of fines on violation

Taking another step towards ensuring cleanliness and hygiene across the city, Municipal Corporation (MC) Commissioner Aaditya Dachalwal has issued an order directing street vendors to ensure dustbins around their vends and maintain cleanliness in their surrounding area or face strict action. If case of a failure to comply with the order, a penalty of up to Rs 2,000 can be imposed on defaulter and an FIR can also be registered against repeated violators, said the order. The civic body can also seize the material/equipment over repeated violations, it said.

Officials of the civic body said the step had been taken to ensure cleanliness and maintain hygiene in the city. Teams of the civic body would also be spreading awareness among the street vendors and if they still fail to comply with the orders, action would be taken against them under appropriate Section of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976; the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014; and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

The street vendors have been directed to keep separate dustbins/garbage receptacles for dry and wet waste. Further, they have been asked to hand over the garbage to collectors or dump it at designated sites (transfer stations) only after closing for the day. Vendors must also refrain from burning waste, spitting, urinating in public spaces or using banned single-use plastic items at their stalls. The enforcement teams of the sanitation wing (health branch) and tehbazaari wing of the MC shall monitor compliance regularly and take appropriate action against violators. MC Commissioner Dachalwal said this was among the many steps which were being taken to ensure cleanliness across the city.

A copy of the order, issued by the MC Commissioner, has also been sent to the office of Commissioner of Police for necessary action. If necessary, environmental penalties can also be imposed against the violators under applicable provisions of Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 issued under Environment Protection Act, 1986. Dachalwal urged residents to support the civic body in keeping the city clean by not dumping waste in open places/plots.

SIs to ensure cleanliness on main roads

Municipal Corporation (MC) Commissioner Aaditya Dachalwal has asked sanitary inspectors (SI) to ensure cleanliness on the main roads of the city. In the orders issued on Friday, main roads in the city have been designated to the SIs concerned of the area. The SIs have been directed to ensure cleanliness on their respective roads, otherwise strict action would be taken against them.

Earlier on Wednesday, MC Commissioner Dachalwal had also conducted a meeting with the health branch officials and strict directions were issued to ensure cleanliness across the city.

MC joint commissioners, zonal commissioners, corporation sanitation officers (CSO), chief sanitary inspectors (CSI) and sanitary inspectors (SI) were present in the meeting. Dachalwal stated that apart from designating main roads to the SIs, steps were being taken to ensure cleanliness in the internal areas of the city.

The senior officials were directed to monitor the situation in their respective areas. In the coming days, surprise inspections would also be conducted to take stock of the situation on the ground level.