Now, pay up to Rs 5,000 for littering in public places in Chennai

CHENNAI: Those who dump garbage and fail to segregate waste before handing it over to the conservancy workers will be fined 5-10% more, said the GCC. Those who dump waste in public and private properties will now have to pay a fine of Rs 5,000, a sharp spike from Rs 500.

Additionally, the civic body has decided to privatise the collecting of construction and demolition waste illegally dumped in the city, and transporting it to designated places of the Corporation.

The GCC had urged residents to segregate dry and wet waste in two different bins and hand it over to workers during door-to-door collection. However, the public failed to separate the items. So now, the civic body has revised the fine amount to Rs 1,000 from Rs 100 for individuals, those staying in apartments should pay Rs 5,000 as penalty, noted in the resolution.

Similarly, the fine amount for those who burn waste at both private and public places has been revised to Rs 5,000 from Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 respectively.

The construction and demolition waste processing plants have been established at Perungudi and Kodungaiyur at a capacity of 400 MT/day each. Both collection and transportation of waste in seven zones – Tondiarpet (Zone 4), Royapuram (Zone 5), Thiru Vi Ka Nagar (Zone 6), Anna Nagar (Zone 8), Teynampet (Zone 9), Kodambakkam (Zone 10) and Adyar (Zone 13) are carried out by a private contractor. The collected waste from the remaining zones is transported directly by the GCC to low-lying areas and other places.

In most cases, the waste is dumped near a waterbody, road, vacant sites, etc., to evade the transportation and disposal costs which in-turn results in pollution, environmental degradation and risk to public health. To prevent the illegal dumping of construction waste in public places, the GCC has levied fines ranging from Rs 2,000-5,000 per tonne.