Make arrangements for waste disposal: Kullu DC

Kullu, March 22

Kullu Deputy Commissioner Torul S Raveesh, while presiding over a meeting on dry and wet waste management here yesterday, said that urban and rural bodies should ensure arrangements at their own level for disposal of solid and liquid waste so that no harm was caused to the environment.

She said that the rural and urban bodies would have to set up plants on their own and garbage of the entire district could not be sent to the only waste management plant at Rangri in Manali.

Plant at Kasol

• Two bighas have been earmarked for the setting up of a waste disposal plant at Kasol
• Waste pits have been built under the Swachh Bharat Mission in 24 panchayats in Anni subdivision

Torul directed the executive officials of the Kullu and Manali Municipal Councils (MC) and nagar panchayats of Bhuntar and Banjar to ensure space for setting up garbage disposal plants. She added that within three months, the bodies under the Rural Development Department would have to make arrangements for disposal of garbage.

The officer said that two bighas had been earmarked for setting up of a waste disposal plant in Kasol and further process was underway. She added that waste pits had been built under the Swachh Bharat Mission in 24 panchayats in Anni subdivision.

The DC said it was mandatory for hotels and other establishments with more than 50 beds to set up their own garbage disposal unit, as per the rules. The civic bodies of Kullu, Bhuntar, Manikaran and Banjar have been looking to set up a garbage treatment site in their areas for the past five years after dumping was stopped at the waste incinerator plant at Pirdi in January 2019 on the orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in June 2017, followed by protests by local residents in September 2018 and further directions of the apex court.