Nawanshahr Diary: Learn Waste management from Kariam village

Second phase of the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM-G) campaign is all about managing waste and making habitations clean, in addition to sustaining open defecation-free (ODF) status that was achieved in Phase I. Many villages have been putting in place systems that effectively manage solid and liquid waste. Kariam village in the district is setting an example by heading towards accomplishing waste management practices and reinforcing ODF sustainability. The village is already known for the successful implementation of SBM-G Phase I. Abiding by the guidelines of SBM-G Phase II, a solid waste management (SWM) unit was setup in the village, the construction of which was completed in March this year and it became operational in April. For community awareness, meetings were organised at the panchayat level so that people would understand the importance of segregation at source and the different kinds of waste. Moreover, each household was given two bins each – blue for dry or non-biodegradable waste and green for wet or biodegradable waste. The community was delighted to learn about such practices and were looking forward to making their village clean and healthy. To overcome the challenges, Deputy Commissioner Dr Shena Aggarwal organised door-to-door visits and appointed officials to see if people were following the guidelines or not. As per the information, currently 65% of the households in the village are actively contributing to the scheme. To ensure maintenance of the SWM plant, the Gram Panchayat supervises its operation and maintenance.

Going organic: Winter vegetable seed kits @ Rs90

Organic farming is gaining popularity among people because of increase in reports of adulterated food items. Mini kits of winter vegetables seeds were released to be distributed among people in the district under the Home Garden Scheme by the Horticulture Department. As many as 2,400 kits will be distributed in September and October. The kits contain nine varieties of vegetable seeds including radish, carrot, turnip, pea, spinach, fenugreek, coriander, broccoli and sugar mustard. The officials said this season was suitable for sowing of these vegetables. Speaking on the occasion Assistant Director, Horticulture, Jagdish Singh Kahma, said the price of this kit has been fixed by the department at Rs90 and the kids could be obtained from the head office or block offices of the Horticulture Department.

(Contributed by Aakanksha N Bhardwaj)