Villages around Dharamsala struggle to manage solid waste

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, August 31

Villages around Dharamsala are struggling to manage solid waste as, unlike the town, there is no proper system for its disposal. Many hotels and restaurants have come up in the villages due to which a considerable amount of solid waste was being generated.

Solid waste can be seen littered along roads in the rural areas. At some places, people resort to burning of the waste such as plastic in the open, causing air pollution.

Rakesh Chaudhary, a resident of Rakkar village, said the Municipal Corporation had made arrangements for door-to-door collection of solid and other kind of waste from houses and commercial establishments in the town area. However, no so such arrangement was available in the rural areas.

The people are dumping the waste in natural streams or on roadside. Sumeer Sharma who runs a restaurant in the Kharota area said the state Pollution Control Board had put in place norms for the disposal of waste for private hotels and restaurants. The hotels and restaurants have to manage the waste on their premises and burn it under controlled conditions, he added. “It was not the hotels, but locals also who are dumping the waste in the open. Solid waste is generated by households as these days all goods come packed. There is no mechanism for disposing of solid waste in a scientific manner in the rural areas,” he said.

Villagers have demanded that the MC extend its services of waste management to them also. As per MC officials, the civic body was struggling to manage its own solid waste due to shortage of staff and infrastructure. Unless the government provides additional staff and infrastructure it was difficult to extend the services to the surrounding rural areas, the officials added.