Kashmir Times            03.07.2013

Solid waste management Rules-2000 to be implemented in letter & spirit: Jora

SRINAGAR, July 2: Minister for Urban Development and Urban Local Bodies Nawang Rigzin Jora today flagged off the first batch of 12 Garbage Hopper Vehicles (GHV) purchased at a cumulative cost of Rs 48 lakh by Srinagar Municipal Corporation for door to door garbage collection in Srinagar city. The GHV were flagged off from New Secretariat Gate this afternoon.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that the Hopper Vehicles with a capacity of 1.8 cubic meters are compatible with the Garbage Compacting Machines (GCM) which can move in narrow lanes and by-lanes in the city and dispense the collected garbage automatically into the GCMs; therefore, reducing the manual intervention and improving effectiveness of work delivery mechanism and efficiency.

Jora said that the service of these hopper vehicles will be utilized initially in 12 wards of the Corporation, adding that another batch of 22 more hopper vehicles shall be added to the existing fleet of SMC within next two month so that all the 34 administrative wards get similar facility. Approximately 1.87 lakh households of Srinagar City shall be covered under the scheme in phased manner, he announced.

Jora said that all the open garbage sheds in city should be provided with dumper bins by March 2014 and no garbage should be visible on the road sides.

The Minister said that SMC has already taken initiative to encourage the households, restaurant owners, hoteliers, hospitals, nursing homes and other institutions to segregate garbage into bio-degradable and non-biodegradable components for waste segregation as envisaged in Solid Waste Management Rules 2000. He said segregation is also conducted on the road sides by Municipal Safai Karamcharis and the rag pickers of the SMC.

Commissioner SMC, Dr. G. N Qasba said that the SMC is committed for implementation of Solid Waste Management Rules 2000 for effective, scientific and environment friendly disposal of waste in Srinagar City. He said besides this, in order to improve sanitation management of SMC, 2,700 Karamcharis of the Corporation are also engaged to work on Sundays and holidays with incentives of two and half day pay in addition to their salaries as reward for additional work per month.