SRINAGAR The Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) has failed to prevent the proper disposal of sewage in Srinagar city due to which many of the passenger sheds have been turned into piles of garbage ensuring that they are not used by commuters.
Many residents of the city complained that huge piles of garbage have been dumped at the passenger sheds causing inconvenience to pedestrians. “The problem is compounded by presence of stray dogs who rummage through the accumulated garbage” , they rued.
Pungent smell emanates from the garbage dump making it difficult for pedestrians including women and aged persons to pass near the passenger sheds, said Farooq Ahmad Wani, a Karannagar resident.
The stray dogs present at the garbage dumps pose risk to pedestrians. Many persons have been bitten by the canines at the spot, said Muhammad Iqbal Khan, an employee of a private company in Lal Chowk.
Solid waste is not dumped at the land filling site and is instead found littered everywhere. Srinagar was recently ranked among the dirtiest cities in India. The government needs to address the solid waste management issue, otherwise it will also repel tourists who visit here, said a resident of Rajbagh, Arif Ahmad.
He said that residents of nearby localities including Rajbagh protested for weeks last year demanding scientific treatment of the waste, but to no avail. He added that the health and environmental concerns have become acute.
Heaps of waste lying at a site poses a health risk. The waste needs to be scientifically treated, said Saima Hameed, a resident of Batamaloo.
Despite population of 12.36 lakh, spread over an area of 294 sq km on both sides of the Jhelum river, not even in a single residential area or commercial establishment in Srinagar has the facility of segregation of solid waste, and much of the waste is dumped into water bodies like the Dal Lake.
The Solid Waste Management Rules of 2016 lay special emphasis on source segregation of waste that also mandates to channelize the waste to wealth by recovery, reuse and recycle.
Officials however said that all hotels and restaurants have been directed to segregate biodegradable waste and set up a system of collection, but the rules are being bypassed in Srinagar and many hotels and houseboat owners dump waste directly into the water bodies.
In Srinagar, 75 to 80 per cent of the municipal waste gets collected and out of this not even 5 per cent of waste is processed or treated, officials added.
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