No sewage plant, Pay hefty fine: Ramalinga Reddy

Bengaluru: The state government has decided to come down heavily on big apartment complexes, which have not yet set up Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) in their premises to recycle used water.

Speaking to reporters here on Monday, Bengaluru in-charge minister Mr Ramalinga Reddy said that though it is mandatory, many big apartments have not yet set up STPs and are letting the sewage into drains.

The government will soon initiate action against such apartments and will levy hefty fines on such apartment associations, he said.

Meanwhile, the government has also decided to streamline garbage disposal within the next three to four months. The government would not resort to the landfill method in the new garbage disposal units and all garbage will be processed.

The new garbage disposal units would be ready in the next four months and Bengaluru will have the garbage disposal capacity to the tune of 2000 MT by then, he said.

Answering a question on segregation of garbage, which is not taking place at source, Mr Ramalinga Reddy said that there was a certain amount of work left to be done though the government was trying to enforce the segregation rule. He admitted that dry and wet garbage was carried in a single vehicle, leading to mixing of both during transition.

“We have thought about it, we will ensure the mistakes are rectified in the next tender for garbage disposal. The new contract clauses would include one that says contractors should have separate vehicles to transport wet and dry garbage.

Besides, open trucks would be banned from the next season as they lead to spillovers on the roads. Besides, the tender conditions will include one that contractors should use only compactors instead of open trucks and each vehicle used by the contractor should be registered in his name. This would reduce sub leasing of  contracts, which leads to shoddy work,'' Mr Reddy added.