Cleanliness in Public Markets - Inputs on Solutions

Stop the hawkers 90% problem will get resolved for another 10 % impose fines more  

Firstly I want to point out that there is an Order of Supreme Court on Management of Municipal Solid Waste, dated 5th Oct, 2004. Unfortunately, we have not taken that ruling seriously even now ten years later! It is high time that it should be followed by each and every municipality in the country. Secondly, each market must set a goal for zero waste management (ZWM). Zero Waste refers to waste management and planning approaches which emphasize waste prevention as opposed to end of pipe waste management, i.e., trying to manage all the unnecessary waste already generated. End of pipe management is very costly and requires lots of infrastructure and resources which municipalities don't have. Therefore such an approach is doomed to fail. ZWM is a whole systems approach that aims for a significant change in the way materials flow through society, resulting in no or low waste. Zero waste encompasses more than eliminating waste through recycling and reuse, it focuses on restructuring production and distribution systems to reduce waste. For example, in the market, it includes how materials are transported or brought into and out of the market, how it is processed, stored and how it is sold. Wastage occurs at each level. The idea is to reduce waste to a minimum or eliminate it altogether at each level. Zero waste must be a goal with targets to be achieved over a defined period of time. A comprehensive plan with guiding principles for continually working towards eliminating wastes must be framed for each market by working with the active involvement of the market association. Awareness building of consumers is also necessary. Municipalities and market associations must have a MOU on ZWM with clear guidelines, rules and regulations. They can enlist support of NGOs to help them develop the ZWM plan and organize the cleaners. Mayors, Councillors, municipal commissioners and heads of urban development departments must take active interest in cleaning our cities. The Citizen Report Card (CRC) system should be implemented for checking the cleanliness of the market. CRC is a simple but powerful tool to provide public agencies with systematic feedback from users of public services, and enable them to identify strengths and weaknesses in their work. CRCs are compiled from data collected during a randomized sample survey of the users of public services - in this case solid waste management services. The responses are aggregated in order to rate the services. Just like the report cards used to rate students in school, the Citizen Report Cards give consumers an opportunity to "score" the quality and adequacy of the services, and express their satisfaction with them. They thus allow the concerns of consumers to come to the attention of decision-makers, and give consumers and civil society organisations a tool for bringing pressure to bear for their resolution. Thanks. more  

1. One way would be to "Catch them young": i.e. Train the youngsters in school to keep the school, home and their immediate neighborhood clean and well maintained; they will learn this habit and maintain this later in their life also. They would even force their elders to follow suit. They can be encouraged by holding regular competitions and by giving them token gifts and titles like - Swatchta Mitra, Swatch Shikhar etc. weekly/monthly once or so. 2. I have already encouraged a regular rag picker to collect segregated recyclables from our apartment at regular intervals (as in Bangalore the municipality has still not solved the problem of disposal of these and hence many people are not yet segregating the dry recyclable wastes). He is quite happy as with less work he is able to collect and earn more. If this works well, I intend to enlist the neighboring apartments to follow a similar procedure. more  

Practical root causes are to be analyzed with proofs, tons of material is stored and sold by shop keepers all along the road, they occupy the foot paths and finally all the garbage is thrown on the roads.Eating on roads by public has increased abnormally,the Hawkers don't clean the garbage.The C.C.Camaras available on the roads can show the proofs. Sulabh toilets are available but the alcoholics do not use them, and some do not want to pay the price. COMMERCIAL ESTABLISHMENTS, SHOPS,RESTAURANTS, MEDICAL SHOPS , SUPER BAZARS, BANKS, BIG OFFICES ETC THE REST ROOM PROVISION FOR OUT SIDERS AT ROAD ENTRANCE POINT IS TO BE MADE COMPULSORY. more  

Good web site for effective governance. A good web site is a must. You cant continue what we are doing now. A strong followup through web is always effective. I will give you an example. I have asked few things through "contact us " on web of bharuch Nagar Palika, no answer since 10 days. I am in Taipei, in their web, all the departments of City functions ( like Roads, Garbage, Streat lights, Gardens, Revenue,water supply, health, senior ciyizens etc...) can be contacted on web. They have to answer immediately by giving a Number to your complaint/sugestion/query. They also give a date (less than 15 days) by which satisfactory answer will be given to you by respetive dept. Then they ask a feed back electronicaly. All this makes officers of Palika accountable. I just wrote to Mayor of Taipei on 1.10.14, requesting to give details on how they keep city clean. I got detailed information and also Head of Environment Protection deptt visited my house, with further information, and was very happy to answer any question. This is the effect of good web site,...that is good effective e-governance. more