The BMC is in the process of drafting new bylaws for solid waste management, which will include revised penalty structures
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The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) controversial clean-up marshal scheme is set to be scrapped by April 2025. The solid waste management department submitted a proposal to civic chief Bhushan Gagrani to discontinue the initiative.
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This is a fallout of numerous complaints from citizens and ward offices about marshals misusing their authority and engaging in corruption. Marshals were imposing fines even for minor infractions, such as dropping a piece of paper momentarily. Fines were being collected without receipts, and even the police reported instances of misconduct by marshals, an official was quoted as saying in a mid-day report. The BMC is in the process of drafting new bylaws for solid waste management, which will include revised penalty structures.
The much-debated scheme started in 2009 and complaints about abuse of power quickly ensued. There was also a vagueness about who exactly was a marshal, how the citizenry could believe this was a marshal and the penalties decided for littering and other offences. When there is no clarity, confusion and misuse of authority abound.
This has some parallels with a pay ‘n’ park scheme, where at times, people do not know if this is an ‘official’ pay ‘n’ park. There are random amounts touted for a certain number of hours etc. that you park your vehicles. Sometimes receipts are given, at times they are not and people simply cannot decipher if some receipts are bona fide.
This just goes to show that any scheme may be well-intentioned but the planning and execution have to be spot on for it to succeed. Reports say that there is another initiative being planned to replace the clean-up marshal effort, which is now scotched. Let the other one have no loopholes, learning from what went wrong with its frontrunner.
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