Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat
Recently I along with my friends while coming back from Gulmarg found heaps of garbage lying scattered near Check e Kawoosa village on Gulmarg Srinagar road. I foundChinar trees that divide this beautiful road along with local irrigation canals being used to dump the plastic waste by local population. After posting the pictures on my facebookwall , my friends and colleagues decided to clean up the entire area with an aim to shake the conscience of the local villagers. On March 10th volunteers of J&K RTI Movement went to the site along with staff from the Municipal Committee Magam. Pertinently Check e Kawoosa does not fall under territorial jurisdiction of Municipal Committee Magam , but on a personal request the in-charge Executive Officer Anees Chowdhary didn’t say no. I am glad he sent his men and machinery. Within 3 to 4 hours entire trash was removed and taken to garbage dumping site Magam in huge trollies. After few days I was told by some friends that people have again started throwing the garbage on the roadside. Initially I got irritated, but when I keenly thought over this issue , I told myself why to blame the people as they have no sanitation service available at all ? Municipalities undertake sanitation of towns and cities , but due to mass urbanization and increase in population, villages too are facing the menace of garbage, but have no facility available at all especially from Government side. Infact there are programmes available for waste management in rural areas , but such programmes are not put into service.
Door to Door garbage collection
Solid Waste Management Rules of 2016 lays special emphasis on door to door collection of waste in a segregated manner. This type of activity was prerogative of cities and big towns until few years back, but now rural areas can also avail door to door waste collection facility plus its processing. The national flagship programme Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM Gramin) guidelines issued on October 2nd, 2014 has a clear policy on Solid Liquid Waste Management (SLWM)in Rural areas at Panchayat level. From last 3 ½ years SBM Guidelines are not being implemented in Jammu & Kashmir with the result our villages are getting converted into garbage dumps. Water bodies , ponds , streams and rivers getting chocked with polythene and plastic. If these guidelines will be implemented in toto by State Rural Development Ministry through its Rural Sanitation Department, I am sure all the villages in our state will become neat and clean within six months to one year. The villages will get facilities like door to door collection of garbage, its segregation at source and making organic compost from the bio degradable waste material and processing / recycling of plastic and polythene waste. In addition to it villagers can be educated on regular basis through Information Education and Communication Programmes (IEC). But this isn’t happening in our state. SMB Gramin is only focusing on construction of lavatories to address open defecation but that is not a serious issue in Jammu & Kashmir like other states.
Activities under SBM Gramin :
As per the guidelines of Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin following activities are to be taken vis a visSolid Liquid Waste Management :
For Solid Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) states are to decide the technologies suitable to their areas. Technologies identified by the Committee on Technologies may also be considered for implementation. Collection, segregation and safe disposal of household garbage, decentralized systems like household composting and biogas plants shall be permitted. Activities related to maximum reuse of organic solid wastes as manure should be adopted. Such technologies may include vermi-composting or any other composting method, individual and community biogas plants. Till date J&K state hasn’t identified these activities.
For Liquid Waste Management states are to identify suitable technologies. Methods adopted for management of liquid wastes may focus on maximum reuse of such waste for agriculture purposes with least operation and maintenance costs.
Government can hire professional organisations for undertaking Solid Liquid Waste Management at village level. Under Swatch Bharat Mission Gramin guidelines Government has been asked to appoint consultants at District and State level as well who would guide the department of Rural development for undertaking solid liquid waste management at village level . J&K Government has not hired any professional organizations who could guide the Rural Development / Rural Sanitation Departments.
Under Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM-Gramin) all the State Governments have been advised to post a Government officer as a full time Block Sanitation Officer (BSO) in each block of district . Till that is not made operational, the State Governments may specifically officially assign BSO activities to a senior official posted at the Block level. He may be assisted by a Block Coordinator and a Data Entry Operator engaged on contract. These officials shall be provided emoluments as decided by the State. One cannot find any Block Sanitation Officer (BSO) in any of the blocks across Jammu & Kashmir, nor has the work been assigned to any officer at block level ?
Conclusion
The objective of Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM Gramin) lays special emphasis on bringing about improvement in hygiene, quality of life and cleanliness in rural areas across India . Solid Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) is one of the key components of this national flagship programme. The aim of this programme is to create clean and garbage free villages. It is essential that the Information Education and Communication (IEC) interventions focus on Solid and Liquid Waste Management so as to create a need for these activities amongst the population. Through such educational and awareness programmes on solid waste disposal a system for the scientific disposal of waste has to be created in such a waythat will have a tangible impact on the rural population. Under this programme the local community has to be motivated to come forward and demand for such a system. Under SBM Gramin programme each village gets a one time grant from centrefor creating Solid Liquid Waste Management facilities across state. Government of India provides Rs.7 lakh for a village Panchayat having a population up to 150 households, Rs.12 lakh up to 300 households, Rs.15 to 17 lakh up to 500 households and Rs.20 lakh for village panchayat shaving more than 500 households. Funding for SLWM project under SBM(G) is provided by the Central and State Government in the ratio of 60:40. Earlier it was 75 : 25 for 3 years (until October 2017) , but J&K state failed to utilize these funds for 3 long years. From 2014 till date we have not been able to create any model across J&K by getting funds from Government of India for waste management in villages under SBM Gramin. Any additional cost requirement for waste management in villages is to be met with funds from the State/ village panchayat, and from other sources like MP LAD , MLA/ MLC’s Constituency Development Fund (CDF), Finance Commission funding, CSR, Swachh Bharat Kosh and through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. Even funds from other sectors that remain unutilized can be utilized for solid waste work in villages.
Had the aforementioned activities been taken up across the rural areas of Jammu & Kashmir under Swacch Bharat Mission Gramin scheme (SBM Gramin), people of Check e Kawoosa would not have been dumping their garbage on the Srinagar Gulmarg road? The nallahs, streams, ponds and irrigation canals would not have been chocked in our villages ? From Kathua to Kupwara all the villages would have been cleaned and thousands of jobs would have been created. I had infact personally apprised Chief Minister about this massive programme last year, but inspite of her assurance the Rural Sanitation Department has not taken up this task till date. Funds under MNREGS can also be utilized to clean villages. I once again appeal Chief Minister, Rural Development Minister, Chief Secretary and Secretary Rural Development to address this problem on priority basis. Rural Sanitation Directorate is also requested to prepare a blueprint for the Waste Management in rural areas under SBM Gramin.
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