Dear Shri Rajendra Jagtapji,
AE (SWM) D Ward 022-23861429 Extn 371 / ae01swm.d@mcgm.gov.in
I came across following news report in today’s Times of India :
It pays to manage waste, find 9 south Mumbai societies
Congratulations on this initiative . It is a good but, a small beginning
However Mumbai generates 8,000 tons of garbage EVERY DAY , from its 50,000 Coop Hsg Societies !
A mere 10 % rebate on their property tax, will not motivate them to undertake garbage separation / composting
I urge you to consider my following suggestion
With regards,
Hemen Parekh
Andheri – Mumbai
hcp@RecruitGuru.com / www.hemenparekh.in
Wednesday, 27 April 2016
Disposal of garbage ( wet and dry ), is a big problem for all Municipalities
In Mumbai , it is a daily 8,000 ton problem
Despite a large fleet of garbage collection trucks and thousands of municipal employees ( including employees of contractors ), streets remain littered and garbage dumps keep overflowing ( when not burning ! )
All kinds of solutions have been attempted in the past to solve this problem, without much success
This is because current perception of the garbage generating households ( and of the office bearers of the housing societies ) , is :
* Garbage collection / disposal is Municipality's responsibility
This problem will persist till we succeed in changing this perception to :
" Garbage disposal is our responsibility "
This change of attitude can be brought about by " incentivizing " the members of the Housing Societies
Here is how :
* The society where I live ( Marol / Mumbai ) has 200 Members ( flats )
* Each member pays monthly Municipal Tax of ( approx ) , Rs 600
* That translates to Rs 1.2 lakh per month ( Rs 14.4 lakh / year )
* In 5 years , Society pays to Municipality, Rs 72 lakhs
* Govt / Municipality to make it compulsory for each big society ( size to be
decided ), to install on its premises :
# Methane gas generating plant or Compost Fertilizer plant
( to take care of wet / organic garbage )
# Water recycling plant ( to filter and reuse water from shower / wash
basin / kitchen sink for toilet flushing purpose )
# A Compacting Press for dry waste ( paper / bags / cartons etc )
* Towards installation of such plants , Municipality to give a discount of
25 % to the Society in monthly taxes , for a period of 5 years
That is a rebate of Rs 150 / month / flat for 5 years
This would work out to a saving of Rs 18 lakh ( 25 % of Rs 72 lakh )
* This amount should be sufficient for the Society to invest in these plants
and for paying wages for persons needed to look after their operations
I believe such a positive incentive will motivate most of the Societies to undertake to install such facilities
As a negative incentive , Govt / Municipality should levy additional surcharge of 25 % on the monthly taxes ( ie raise to Rs 750 / month in our case ) to those societies which fail to implement this scheme within ONE YEAR of notification
It is high time citizens are involved and motivated ( through negative as well as positive incentives ) in keeping their cities clean and its environment pleasant
I am sure such an experiment will find a far better response from the public as compared to the ODD-EVEN scheme of Delhi ( which too will succeed when Delhi-ites find plenty of Public Transport )
Incidentally , Shri Arvind Kejriwal and his team should study ( without sending a delegation abroad ! ), the " Share - a - Bike " taxi scheme ( BIXI )
which has successfully solved the traffic congestion problem in Montreal
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