Mangaluru : City Corporation Commissioner Hepshiba Rani Korlapati announced on Saturday that waste segregation at source will commence in two wards of the city on an experimental basis from April 1. The wards are Mannagudda and Mangaladevi.

She told presspersons that a month-long awareness campaign will be undertaken in March before implementing it. When pointed out that persons appointed by the new contractor for solid waste management were insisting on keeping waste in plastic carry bags, defeating the very idea of segregation, she said at present only door-to-door collection is being done and segregation at source has not been undertaken.

She said different issues in effective implementation of segregation would be addressed in the two wards. She added that the new contractor has been asked to ensure waste collection on Sundays also without fail.

The Commissioner said the State government was serious about the solid waste management and several meetings have been held in the recent past. The government had asked her to submit a report keeping solid waste management for the next 20 years in mind. The report was being prepared.

Later, in the meeting of the Council of the Corporation several members alleged that waste is not being collected properly and it was being taken in open vehicles against the contractual terms. The Commissioner said these issues had been taken up with the contracting firm, which would deploy more vehicles to transport garbage soon.

The Council meeting was informed that the State government has termed the resolution of the corporation not to increase property tax as illegal and asked it why it should not be cancelled. Mayor Mahabala Marla said there was no change in the council’s stand and the State government would be requested to ratify the resolution. BJP members pointed out that this would be a wasteful exercise and ruling party was only “fooling” the people as the civic body had collected taxes at revised rates.