An order mentioning a ban is all that Kolkata Municipal Corporation has done to stop the burning of waste in the open.
The message often does not percolate down to waste cleaners who pick up daily waste from houses and clean streets.
KMC officials said there had rarely been any sensitisation programmes for cleaners. Nor has the civic body organised any mass campaign to tell people about the harmful impacts of waste burning.
The result is that waste cleaners as well as residents burn waste in the open across the city, especially during winter. Besides, several government agencies at times flout rules and burn waste in the open.
The Telegraph reported on Friday that a heap of garbage containing mostly dry leaves was found burning on the Rabindra Sarobar premises the day before. Earlier this year, fire tenders had to rush to Sarobar to douse flames in a heap of garbage.
As winter sets in, such small fires are common on the Maidan, the lungs for much of the city.
The burning of waste releases toxic fumes, said Anumita Roy Chowdhury, an air quality management expert. “The quantum of pollution is enormous in the immediate vicinity of where waste is burnt. But we have to go to the root of waste burning,” she said.
“The reason why either waste cleaners or residents burn waste is because of inadequate municipal service. It is mostly horticultural waste like dry leaves that are burnt. If municipal bodies are able to create adequate composting facilities, the burning will be reduced,” said Roy Chowdhury, executive director of the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment.
A pile of garbage set on fire near the Eden Gardens last week. Pradip Sanyal
Roy Chowdhury felt that besides sensitising waste cleaners of the civic body, there was also a need to run sensitisation campaigns in the community.
If the waste contains items such as cloth and plastic, the toxicity of the emission is more harmful, said air quality management specialists.
“Ordinary people burn waste. They need to be made aware of why waste burning is harmful,” said Roy Chowdhury.
“There are orders and circulars issued from time to time mentioning that waste should not be burnt. But there has never been any sensitisation programme for waste cleaners on why waste burning is harmful,” said an overseer of the solid waste management department of the KMC.
An overseer is in charge of the department’s operations in a ward. “The orders come from the headquarters. We pass them on to sub-overseers, who are then supposed to pass on the message to waste cleaners.”
An official of the KMC admitted that whether the message reached cleaners depended solely on the seriousness with which overseers and sub-overseers view the issue. “There are hardly any sensitisation programmes for waste cleaners where they are explained about the harmful effects of waste burning,” said the official.
The KMC’s bylaws for solid waste management has a provision for a fine for burning waste. But officials admitted that it was not possible to identify and fine those who fire to waste.
“The only way is to create awareness among people against waste burning,” said an official.