IEC campaign may break garbage deadlock

Aurangabad: A team of six persons is working tirelessly to ensure the city not just comes out of the waste crisis but stands as a model for solid waste management. These city coordinators, appointed by the state government, are driving the Information, Education and Communication (IEC) campaign for waste management in the six critical zones.

The team is currently working under AMC deputy commissioner Vikram Mandurke and is responsible for sensitizing citizens towards the garbage segregation.

Syed Asif Ali, Sayyad Farhan, Shahji Chavan, Sumit Atole, Vijay Rakte and Sanjivani Jadhav were picked up by the principal secretary of urban development department Manisha Mhaiskar during her visit to the city on March 9. The officer had identified five zones that were lagging behind in waste management and appointed these individuals to do the ground work. The zones 1, 2, 3, 7 and 9 were identified to be critical.

Vijay Rakte, who worked for zone 9, was absorbed as a technical expert at divisional commissionerate while Sanjivani Jadhav is works at the head office of solid waste department of the AMC.

According to Rahul Khandare, state-level IEC expert for Swachha Maharashtra Mission, these individuals were appointed to help the civic body in solid waste management by 360 degree hand-holding.

Sayyad Farhan of zone 1 says that they started their work by undertaking a ground-level survey of the existing situation, then planned their strategy and started their work.

Syed Asif Ali said that they held door-to-door visits, ward sabhas, nukkad and colony meetings, rallies by school children, pamphlet distribution and banner display to raise awareness about the segregation of waste at source and ideal practices of waste disposal.

One of the innovative ideas planned with the AMC officials was setting up a night vigilance squads as many people dump garbage on roads at night.