Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat (DK ZP) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Kumar has served a notice to Balepuni GP Panchayat Development Officer following complaints from the public that dry waste collected at the Bapu waste management unit in Balepuni in Bantwal taluk was dumped in a quarry pit without being disposed of scientifically.
The ZP CEO in the notice said that the Swachha Sankeerna unit should be maintained effectively and scientifically. All the dry waste segregated at the unit should be sent to the recycling unit. In spite of it, the dry waste collected at the unit was sent to a quarry pit and was disposed of unscientifically.
No steps were taken by the Gram Panchayat to maintain the waste management unit through Sanjeevini Okkuta despite the government’s directions, he said.
As per the government order, Sanjeevini Okkuta members should be trained in managing the dry waste and the Gram Panchayat should enter into an understanding with the Okkuta for the effective management of the waste. The show-cause notice also sought to know steps taken by the Gram Panchayat to clear the waste found dumped indiscriminately beside roads and in public places in GP jurisdiction.
In fact, women were engaged to manage Bapu Solid Resource Management Centre at Balepuni GP after they underwent training in segregating the dry waste collected at Vandse Solid and Liquid Waster Resource Management in 2020. But, the management of waste had become worst under the Gram Panchayat.
The Gram Panchayat authorities had recently dumped the dry waste in a laterite quarry pit before setting it on fire. The public had even submitted a video of the fire in the quarry to the Zilla Panchayat CEO.
District sanitation ambassador Sheena Shetty stressed that sustained steps should be taken to keep Swachh Baharat Abhiyan's momentum going. All officials at the grassroots level should discharge their duties effectively and transparently. If all the wet waste and dry waste is managed scientifically at the GP level, Dakshina Kannada will not have a waste menace.