TMC councillor retorts to littering, throws back garbage into residential building

Kolkata: In a hard lesson for the residents and commercial establishments that have been dumping garbage on the road, a Trinamool Congress councillor of Bhowanipore area in South Kolkata retorted on Thursday by throwing the garbage back inside the premises of a residential building that had been found dumping the same on the road.

The move was undertaken by Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) councillor of ward 70 Ashim Basu, during a cleanliness drive on Elgin Road.

"I have been constantly doing rounds in my ward urging the residents and commercial buildings not to throw any garbage or construction waste on the road. However, I have found that some are turning a deaf ear to my requests. A particular residential building on Elgin Road was found throwing garbage on the road in front of it for the last few days. Today, during a conservancy drive, garbage was thrown inside the premises of that building," Basu said, adding that it should be treated as a lesson for all the residents who have been littering the roads.

He reiterated that apart from the arrangements made by the civic body for door-to-door garbage collection, he had installed around 80 dustbins in his ward and launched a battery-driven conservancy van for the collection of wastes.

Basu has also undertaken a massive awareness drive in his ward. If a resident or a commercial establishment wants the civic body for any special conservancy drive, he/she can call up the councillor who is ready to offer the service on behalf of KMC at a nominal charge, depending upon the quantity of such wastes.

After the councillor posted a video clipping and still photograph showing his action on his own Facebook page, more than 100 residents welcomed his tough stand.

Partha Ray, a senior citizen of ward 70, said: "These irresponsible people have rightly been paid back by their own coin. This is absolutely the correct way to keep our city of joy clean and beautiful."