Some Swachh drive this: To keep driving in Uttarakhand, you may have to install dustbin in your car!

dehradun

Updated: Nov 24, 2017 20:44 IST

The state government may amend the Uttarakhand Motor Vehicle Regulations to ensure that dustbins are mandatory in private-owned and commercial vehicles as part of its waste management drive.

Chief minister TS Rawat on Friday directed officials to ensure that installing dustbins in four wheelers is mandatory, taking a leaf out of the his predecessor Harish Rawat, who earlier issued similar directions but it was never implemented.

Officials, however, say they are keen on making it a mandatory clause for vehicles to be fitted with dustbins for which an amendment in the motor vehicle regulations is likely.

“First we will ask people to do it voluntarily. For this, we will also talk with car and other vehicle dealers,” said D Senthil Pandiyan, state transport secretary.

“New (vehicles) registrations will not be issued without the vehicle being fitted with a dustbin for which we are thinking to amend the state regulations to ensure its enforcement,” he told Hindustan Times.

The transport department will start installing dustbins in its buses first, he said. “About 60% transport is public in Uttarakhand.”

Installing of dustbins will be taken in phases and in the first phase, intra-state, inter-state and city buses will be fitted with dustbins.

In the second phase, private commercial vehicles like cabs and buses will be fitted with dustbins and will be extended to private-owned vehicles.

One hand, the government is keen on promoting tourism; on the other it’s waste management is still a distant dream.

State urban development minister Madan Kaushik has directed officials to ensure that collection centres are set up so that waste picked from door-to-door can be segregated at these points and non-biodegradable waste can be recycled.

Mahesh Bhandari, president Dehradun Resident Welfare Front-- an umbrella organization of resident welfare associations--said: “The problem is with the sensitization.”

“Despite garbage bins placed across city neighbourhoods, people still throw waste in open plots and on the roadside. This needs to be stopped,” he said.

He further said that people people found dumping waste other than identified sites will be fined and strict action will be undertaken against them.

“Unless people made to pay for polluting their localities, waste management will be a distant dream.”