Sunday, 28 November 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
People burning dry leaves too can now attract a hefty fine from the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD). Many people can be observed following the rampant practice of burning garbage across the city, especially during the winter. Many do not even know that burning garbage in public is an offence while some consider that burning dry leaves is harmless. However, the senior municipal health officer Dr RK Singh stated that burning leaves is also a punishable offence as per the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Act. “Burning of green waste like dry leaves also affects air quality like any other garbage. Many consider only the burning of plastic waste harmful to the environment which is not entirely true. Burning of waste like dry leaves, rubber, paper and cloth also contributes to the air pollution,” stated Singh. He said that the corporation had already started imposing penalties on burning garbage in open areas after the order of the district magistrate R Rajesh Kumar. The MCD has now started conducting surprise inspections at different locations from the weekend. He said, “The sanitation team recently imposed a penalty of Rs 5,000 on a Sahastradhara Road resident for burning garbage in an open area. We also penalised a sanitation supervisor on Saturday for burning garbage in the Rajpur Road area. The teams are going on rounds regularly to keep their eyes on such violations.” He said that the practice of burning leaves increase during the winter but people should
adopt composting to dispose of dry leaves rather than burning them that adversely affects the environment. He said that the locals should also complain to the corporation if they find anybody burning garbage nearby. “Locals can click photographs and make videos of such offenders burning the garbage and can approach the MCD with the same. Stringent actions will be taken against the offenders under the relevant act,” added Singh.
