Editorial|Keeping the city clean

Waste disposal is a challenging task for urban management institutions. The loads of waste we produce these days pose a tough task. What compounds our job is that our open spaces are shrinking. In a city like Srinagar we used to have ample open spaces that would take this waste in; another factor that helped was that the waste would almost entirely be biodegradable. Now the things have changed. And changed totally. One, the amount of waste is manifold more than it used to be. Two, the open spaces are gone. Three, the non-biodegradable waste is creating huge problems. In this situation administration is finding it difficult to manage the problem. Collecting waste from all households, and then pool it at some place may give us an impression that we are somehow disposing off the waste, but that sends out a wrong impression. The facts on ground are quite contrary. Those living around the dumping sites know what it means. These people are used to protests. And this is all understandable.

The whole area stinks badly, making life of the people in those areas miserable. It is difficult to manage those little minutes when one drives near such a dumping site. Now imagine living in same area. The question is that on whose cost this waste is managed in this city. The residents of the surrounding areas of the major dumping site in Srinagar allege that the disposal doesn’t happen in a scientific manner, hence the problem. If that is the case, the concerned officials must take note of it and put in place the latest equipments to deal with the waste. Also there is need to focus on the segregation of waste at source. If individual household is sensitised in this regard much of the problem would not prop up at all. If the biodegradable waste is dumped at the source, it would relieve the department of much of the burden, and also save the dumping site from stinking. It needs a focussed and comprehensive drive to ensue that biodegradable waste is manged at the level of the user.

   

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