Says land mafia shall not be allowed to create hurdles
SRINAGAR: Minister for Urban Development and Urban Local Bodies, Mr. Nawang Rigzin Jora today informed the LA that the dumping site at Achen has been modernized and developed into a scientific land fill site jointly by the consultants of Asian Development Bank (ADB) and J&K Economic Reconstruction Agency (JKERA), adding that after operationalization of the landfill cell there is no adverse effect on environment and surrounding population in the Achen area.
In a statement made in the House today, Mr. Jora said that the work on scientific land fill site, at Achan has been allotted to one of the leading National Companies namely M/S Ramky Enviro Ltd. in the year 2008. He said the Company has been allotted not only execution of civil works including construction of land fill cell, but also maintenance and operation of land fill site, adding that the first land fill cell stands completed on December 2011, 2hich was put into operations in February 2012. He said the second cell is under construction and will be completed by the end of the current year.
The Minister said that the Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Board is regularly monitoring the solid waste collection, transportation and disposal system of Srinagar Municipal Corporation and its team of scientists visit the land fill site on regular intervals. He said that before December 2011, all the garbage was being dumped in an unscientific manner, but after operationalization of the land fill site, the garbage is being dumped in the land fill cell, due to which there is no any adverse effect on the environment and surrounding population. He said the work for construction and development of second land fill cell has also been allotted, adding that 2 more Leachate Treatment Plant shall be commissioned shortly as per the orders of Honble High Court.
The Minister said the solid waste management in the city is from the 1.87 lacs households, 1240 number of hotels/restaurants, 8560 commercial establishments/shops. He said in order to improve collection of garbage from house to house, the SMC has issued NIT for procurement of 50000 household dust bins and these household dustbins will be distributed among general public within the financial year. He said it is important to state that the Srinagar city consists of 1.87 lacs households and the SMC has already been able to cover 33,000 households by providing them these households dust bins and thus large number of the households shall be provided with household dust bins, for collection/storage of house hold garbage. This process will not only improve hygiene in the city, but will also be helpful in segregation of Municipal Solid Waste at Primary level.
The Minister said that the Corporation has divided the city into four zones viz North, South, East and West for effective segregation at secondary level. So far about 170 refuse collection points have been identified, where the quantity of waste is very high. Non-Biodegradable waste has been generated and so far (in the last eight months) 241 metric tons (mostly plastic) has been collected and dumped at landfill site Achen, at an isolated patch of 30 kanals of land, duly fenced by cement blocks. With regard to the institutional segregation, steps have also been taken by providing of dumpers and smart bins to hotel Grand Lalit, Vivanta Taj, Royal Spring Golf Course and other educational institutions for segregation of biodegradable and non-biodegradable solid waste. The SMC has fleet of 69 trucks of different capabilities, which carry the Municipal waste to landfill site Achen in a scientific manner, on daily basis up to 2.00 pm.
The Minister said that the Srinagar Municipal Corporation has started Hooper Vehicle Services, in the Srinagar City which collects the garbage from the house to house and finally dispenses the collected garbage automatically in to the Garbage Compact Vehicles. At present 12 hopper Vehicles are in operation and supply order of additional 22 more such vehicles placed. Besides, order for 4 High Tech Garbage Compact machines has also been placed and these machines are expected to be delivered by end of November 2013. This would improve the number of garbage compact machines with SMC, from five to nine. This arrangement shall improve the total sanitation of the Srinagar city.
The Minister said in order to control the bad smell, at Aachen landfill site, 8.60 metric tons of sanitreat (anti odour chemical) has been procured. The regular application of this odour control agent, on the garbage, has shown good results. These measures have been taken in compliance to the decisions taken in the High Level Committee meeting conveyed under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary, J&K State on 10-09-2013. The Sanitreat powder applied has shown encouraging results and has been able to minimize the bad odour significantly.
The Minister said as a long term strategy to manage the Achen landfill site and sanitation of Srinagar City, a detailed DPR has been submitted to the Union Urban Development Ministry entitled Solid Waste Management for Srinagar under JNNURM-II at an estimated cost of Rs. 116.86 crore. This project envisages modernizing house to house garbage collection from the entire Srinagar City by way of providing of House hold garbage bins, organizing of door to door garbage collection through the use of modern Hooper vehicles, and providing Garbage compact Vehicles. The proposal further envisages that at Achen a waste processing plant shall be established with a capacity of processing over 500 metric tons of garbage, on daily basis. This project once approved by, the Union Urban Ministry, shall make Srinagar City compliant to the requirements of MSW Rules of 2000 and shall also bring this city at par with national and international best practices in vogue. He said I am personally monitoring the progress of this project with union Urban Development Ministry.
The Minister made it very clear that Achen land fill site is important for Srinagar City Sanitation and every possible step shall be taken to make this land fill site as the most modern and scientific municipal facility. He said the Government will take all steps to address the genuine concerns of the citizens of Srinagar City especially those living around the Aachen area, about any negative effects of this land fill site. He said the Government is also in full knowledge of the happenings at Aachen where land mafia has tried to create problems by way of inciting the public and to disrupt the hassle-free working of the personnel of the J&K ERA and SMC, adding that such unlawful acts, shall not be allowed.
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