The field forest officers will now levy fines for littering and disposing garbage in the parks and forest.
The Department of Forest and Park Services under Ministry of Agriculture empowered forest officers to regulate fines as per the Waste Prevention and Management Regulation 2012.
According to Waste Prevention and Management Regulation 2012, people will be fined Nu 500 for refusing to dump waste in approved sites.
For dumping industrial waste, the fine is Nu 20,000 while for construction waste; it will be Nu 9,000 per truck.
The officers say the waste are mostly found in picnic spots, recreational areas, trekking route and timber extraction sites.
Officiating Chief Forestry Officer, Wangdi Dukpa said there is a misconception among the people that the forestry officials will clean after them.
But, he said they cannot man huge areas given the limited manpower and that it is the responsibility of the people to dump their own trash.
Wangdi Dukpa said despite departments’ awareness programme, people dump waste in areas such as cliffs and rivers, making it difficult for them to collect.
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