Sullia :  The president of the Sullia Town Panchayat in Dakshina Kannada, Vinay Kumar Kandadkka, drove a vehicle collecting solid waste in select wards of the town on Saturday and Friday, because the regular driver could not attend duty owing to home quarantine.

The panchayat has three vehicles for collecting garbage on three routes. One of their drivers was in home quarantine as he was the primary contact owing to COVID-19 cases at his home.

The other two drivers managed to drive the third vehicle for two days. But there was a delay in collecting the solid waste on the third route as the third vehicle could be operated only after one of the other two drivers completed the collection in their respective routes.

The president said, that he also personally wanted to see how people are cooperating in segregating waste at source. “I also wanted to create awareness among people on segregating waste at homes,” he said. The president drove the vehicle for three to four hours from 6.30 a.m.

The president said that the panchayat collected 1,200 kg to 1,500 kg of waste daily from its 20 wards. While many are segregating the waste at source, some are not. He made those without segregated waste, separate it on the spot and then hand it over.

“While some did it without any objection, a few others said that it was the duty of the panchayat to segregate it as they paid tax to the civic body,” Mr. Kandadkka said.

The president said that he tried to make non-segregators understand that it was their duty to separate the waste at source. “Many people were not listening to our drivers when they asked for segregated waste. I also experienced it personally,” the civic chief said.