Scattered garbage eyesore at Solang Nala near Manali
Abhinav Vashisht
Kullu, February 22
The pictures showing municipal waste scattered around a garbage collection centre at the popular tourist spot Solang Nala near Manali have gone viral on social media. These pictures have drawn the ire of the people and many persons have criticised this non eco-friendly culture in the eco fragile region.
The littered garbage seems to be mostly from the temporary eateries set up at Solang Nala by local residents. Earlier, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had imposed a ban on temporary eateries in Solang Nala and all of these were removed by the administration in July 2015 to ensure compliance.
Panchayat pins blame on Eateries
- Palchan panchayat president Kaushalya said people of Palchan, Buruwa and Shanag panchayats run temporary eateries in Solang Nala and they scatter garbage outside the collection centre when it is full. Tourists visiting Solang Nala and returning from Lahaul also litter in the area
- She said it has been decided in the gram sabha that the collection centre would be removed and vehicles would collect garbage from houses. This would prevent dumping of garbage in the Solang Nala area
However, temporary eateries and stalls have come up again in and around Solang Nala. This has resulted in piling up of garbage in the area.
The garbage is removed by vehicles hired through a contractor by Manali Tourism Development Council (TDC) and Special Area Development Authority (SADA).
Palchan panchayat president Kaushalya said that the people of Palchan, Buruwa and Shanag panchayats run temporary eateries in Solang Nala and they scatter garbage outside the collection centre when it is full. She said it was not possible for the garbage collection vehicle to reach the collection centre during snow or heavy rush of tourist vehicles.
She said that the contract of cleaning by the TDC and SADA should be given to separate contractors and not to the same contractor as was being done presently.
A local resident said that the parking lot operators in Solang Nala do not remove snow and allow adventure sports activities on it. This often resulted in traffic chaos as the visitors are forced to park the vehicles on the road. The authorities concerned are a mute spectator. This mess is also the reason due to which the garbage collection vehicle is unable to reach the collection centre.
Environmentalists said that huge amount of funds were collected at the green tax barrier but little had been done to conserve the environment in major tourist hotspots around Manali. They said an eco-friendly market should be developed at Solang Nala to facilitate the visitors. They added that clean mobile toilets should be made available at tourist hotspots and an adequate number of bins be installed to prevent littering.
They added that the administration should maintain regular vigil so that the orders of the NGT were not flouted. They further added that commercial activities should be allowed in such a way that these caused minimal harm to the environment.
