Syed Tahir Bukhari
BARAMULLA, July 20 : Sopore town commonly known as (Chota London) because of commercial activities in District Baramulla of North Kashmir, lacks a planned solid waste management, or at least the implementation of such a system is nowhere and Municipal council is in a deep slumber. According to the residents of Krankshiv area, "a vast amount of solid waste such as plastic bags, polythenes and other chemical substances finds its way into the roadside drains or in surface drains thus chocking the residents at large.
"With the population growth and increased commercial and industrial activity, the problem of waste disposal is becoming more intense. Irshad Ahmad Channa of New light Colony says that Sopore is perhaps the only town in the district that is devoid of a garbage dump. Heaps of garbage cans are spotted all across the town. One huge pile of garbage is seen just outside the hospital, while another heap blocks the road leading to the Government Girls Higher Secondary school. Piles of garbage kept unattended on the roadsides invites all kind of diseases and, of course, the omnipresent dogs and more thecollection of solid wastes from neighborhood containers is about 73.33 MT per day Channa complained. The sewerage system is non-existent in the town and all of 15.10 million liters per day sewerage generated is either directly discharged into the nearby storm water drains without any treatment or, after partial treatment, through septic tanks. The unhygienic disposal mechanism makes the area disease-prone.
Manzoor Wani a Medico by profession said that, "Small refuse containers of 50-cft size are proposed to be placed for a cluster of 50 houses. 50-houses produce about 0.09 tons of waste in a day (at the rate of 380 gm per capita per day and 5-persons per household). The talk about Municipal Committee trying to control the dog population evokes laughter from the residents of Sopore. "This town has literally being thrown to the dogs," says Wani. Certain low-lying areas outside the periphery of town can be reclaimed and put to proper use through sanitary fillings. In the initial stage of collection, transportation and dumping of solid waste will be managed by the available machinery in the Municipal Council.
"The Municipal Council will have to be equipped with adequate number of loaders, garbage carrying trucks, containers and garbage depots. Transportation and disposal of about 66.59 MT per day of solid waste is an enormous task for municipal council by 2015, which can be achieved by the use of latest machinery and Techniques, locals of Sopore town said. |
