Solid waste mgmt an uphill task in Kangra

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, February 7

Solid waste management has become a big problem in Kanga district. Though there are about two Municipal Corporations and about 12 Municipal Councils in Kangra district, hardly any of these urban bodies has a proper solid waste management plant. Even the Dharamsala and Palampur Municipal Corporations, which are the highest populated cities in Kangra and receive a large floating population in the form of tourists, do not have proper solid waste management plants.

Plants to come up in each block

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Plants for solid waste management will be set up in all development blocks of Kangra district. In January, the BDOs presented a plan for establishing solid waste management plants in their respective areas. — Nipun Jindal, Kangra DC

Kangra Deputy Commissioner Nipun Jindal, when contacted, said plants for solid waste management would be set up in all development blocks of Kangra district. For this, all development block officers had been instructed to take effective steps during review meetings. At the last review meeting held in January, the BDOs presented a plan for establishing solid waste management plants in their respective areas. However, it was realised that the conceptualisation of such plants could be better if an exposure visit was organised and the successful implementation of such plants in the district could be demonstrated to all BDOs. Experts from Pollution Control Board were also roped in and a delegation of BDOs led by ADC Kangra Rahul Kumar and other environmental experts made a field visit to the biodegradable plant established in Kangra and plastic waste management plant in Jawalaji, he said.

Jindal said better work is being done in waste management in Jawalaji of Kangra district and compost manure is being prepared from garbage in the plant established in Kangra and good work is being undertaken for plastic waste management in Jawalaji as well. On this basis, Kangra and Jawalaji solid waste management plants had been chosen for the field visit, he said.

Sources here, however, said the administration was finding it hard to locate places where plants could be set up. Mostly, villagers resisted

setting up solid waste management plants in their vicinity. Residents of villages located near the dumping plants in Dharamsala have been consistently protesting against the pollution being caused in their water sources.

Since most of the common lands in Kangra district are classified as forest lands, the administration is finding it difficult to locate places for setting up solid waste dumping sites, they said.