Municipality slaps Rs 5k fine on rly official

THRISSUR: In a curious development, Wadakancherry municipality has slapped a fine of Rs 5,000 on the superintendent of Wadakancherry railway station on charges of burning inorganic waste, including plastic, near the station.
The secretary of the municipality, K K Manoj, noticed that waste was being burned publicly near the railway station on Thursday morning.Immediately, he directed the municipality’s clean city manager to conduct a probe and submit a report.
The probe found that waste swept from the premises of the station was being burned there.
Based on the report of the clean city manager, the municipality secretary issued the notice to the station manager.
The secretary said the fine has been imposed based on the National Green Tribunal order and if the fine is not remitted within 14 days, action, including prosecution, will be initiated against the official under Section 538 of the Kerala Municipality Act.
The railway sources said a mistake by cleaning staff seems to have precipitated the incident.
“We had told them not to dump or burn waste in public, and had given them gunny bags for collecting waste and handing it over to Haritha Karma Sena,’’ said a railway official.