The garbage sentinel scheme launched by the Margao Municipal Council appears to be an ambitious and innovative concept to tackle random disposal of waste at open places in the city, including roadsides. The move reflects a sense of helplessness on the part of MMC to tackle random waste dumping on its own. The scheme is lucrative, but will it help in tackling the vexed garbage issue of Margao?
On the face of it, this scheme has similarities to the much popular traffic sentinel scheme launched by the transport department. In this case, a photo or a video of the garbage violation is to be sent on a cellphone number through WhatsApp and the sentinel is understood to be rewarded with Rs 1000 for reporting the offence. The offender will end up paying a fine of Rs 5000 for dumping garbage in the city. On paper, this appears to be child’s play, but on the ground, a different set of challenges await.
Firstly, the garbage sentinel doesn’t have any legal backing so far. Unlike the traffic sentinel scheme, this garbage monitoring mechanism is not notified. It leaves enough scope for hostilities with offenders refusing to pay the penalties since it doesn’t stand the test of law for now. How does the MMC proceed when offenders refuse to pay the fines?
Secondly, moral policing has its own fallouts. There are bound to be clashes between people. Lest we forget, the traffic sentinel scheme went through some rough patches where sentinels were attacked and sometimes brutally assaulted. How will the municipality deal with cases of violence arising out of this exercise? Will it wash its hands off leaving the sentinel alone to fight his own battles?
Habitual offenders know the contours of the city in and out. Fearing a trap in terms of an awaiting sentinel, they may decide to skip the 50-odd garbage spots dotting the city and dump their waste in isolated places to avoid prying cameras. This is a worse off situation.
There is over 15 tonnes of garbage being dumped in the city from neighbouring villages. There is garbage flowing in from Navelim, Alto-Aquem, Davorlim, Seraulim, Nuvem, Benaulim and other coastal areas in the vicinity. And herein lies the crux of Margao’s garbage issue. While the sentinel goes about his job, this exercise will not help in stopping the flow of garbage. Rather, it will act as a deterrent. If not for Margao, it will be dumped somewhere else. The government must take note of the fact that in the absence of garbage disposal systems, villages which are fast moving towards urbanization use the city as their dumping ground. Going forward, village-level garbage treatment is a must if the spread of waste is to be contained.
A similar sentinel scheme was planned by Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar in January this year to tackle tourists creating a nuisance. It never saw the light of day till now, and tourists continue to run amok. The Margao garbage sentinel is a desperate attempt to discourage inbound garbage, and it only remains to be seen how effective it proves to be.
