10 yrs on, Jammu awaits completion of solid waste management system

Sumit Hakhoo

Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 5

Even after 10 years of the initiation of Centrally sponsored multi-crore project to give cities in Jammu and Kashmir a modern solid waste management system, its completion is nowhere in sight.

Funds were sanctioned under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) programme.

Experts say that with no long-term planning and policy reforms, burgeoning waste management problem, especially in Jammu, winter capital of J&K, is set to become a health and environmental crisis in the coming years.

An ambitious project commissioning of 27 MLD Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) at Bagwati Nagar taken up in 2006-07 and plan to identify a dumping site on the outskirts of the winter capital are yet to see the light of the day pushing Jammu at the 427th rank, lowest in India, when it comes to cleanness and ability of the civic bodies to dispose of tonnes of waste generated daily.

The construction of the STP, started in 2007 by National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) Ltd, was supposed to be completed in 2011 along with underground sewerage system, but machinery worth crores of rupees have been left at the mercy of vagaries of weather at Bagwati Nagar.

On the other hand, the winter capital, spread over 115 sq km and inhabited by 15 lakh people, generates nearly 400 tonnes of solid waste daily, but half of it is not lifted due to manpower shortage and in the absence of suitable dumping site.

As per a future projection study conducted by the government, by 2031 it is estimated that the city will cover an area of 530 sq km and improper waste management will make people prone to diseases.

Till 2003, the city was having an area of just 32 sq km and in 2003 the government approved the city limits to 112 sq km. The old city, comprising of 23 wards, was divided into 48 wards and 23 new wards were added, thus raising the total number of wards to 71.

Plan to develop dumping site at Kot Bhalwal abandoned

The failure to identify a landfill to dump more than 400 tonnes of solid waste generated in Jammu everyday has forced the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) to dump waste in deep trenches created in the forest areas around the city and on the Tawi riverbed, leading to environmental pollution.

Though in Srinagar, solid waste is dumped in the Achan area, but so far no such space has been identified in Jammu because the government had failed to identify the land. A few years ago a land was identified at Kot Bhalwal, some 15 km from the city, but locals objected to the project after which the administration decided to abandon the site to establish a dumping ground in Samba.

At the moment the Municipal Corporation collects garbage from 453 collections points within its limits by means of men and machinery and disposes it of into deep trenches on the city outskirts.

Joint Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, RS Jamwal said the corporation was still in the process of identifying land. “There have been some problems in the past because people opposed our plan. The JMC is looking for an alternative land, but the decision has to be taken to ensure proper disposal of solid waste,” Jamwal said.

Though a new master plan is being prepared to deal with the challenge, but officials said it could mean investment of crores of rupees to provide civic amenities to such an expanding city, which is beyond the realms of the state government and need massive investment by the private sector.

Sewerage project misses four deadlines 

• Faulty project planning and failure to complete urban reform tasks by Jammu and Kashmir have pushed the completion date of multi-billion underground sewerage system for twin capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar beyond 2016. It has so far missed four deadlines — March 2011, March 2013, April 2014 and April 2015.
• A project to lay the main trunk sewer of 26.53 km and lateral sewers of 65.50 km, started under the Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Plan (PMRP), is running behind schedule delaying the commissioning of the STP, despite the fact that it was inaugurated by the then Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in September 2014.
• The Director, Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA), Jammu, Ravinder Kumar Raina, said the project would take some more time before it was commissioned. “There are some technical issues, otherwise the project has been completed. Some of the sewers have still not been connected.”
• Sources said when the STP and allied works were started in 2007 the executing agency had asked the government that it required to audit the Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared by the government, but the then PDP-Congress government had ignored its plea citing that the state was already behind schedule. When the NC-Congress took charge in 2008, they continued with the earlier project without any change.