Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, May 17: Heaps of garbage including bio-medical waste generated from hospitals was posing threat to the Apple town Sopore in North Kashmir’s Baramulla district as the Sopore Municipality Committee (SMC) has failed to lift the garbage.
The residents said that it is not only the solid waste but the foul smell emanating from garbage dumps lying everywhere that poses threat to lives of people. “The town of Sopore alone generates at an average over 30-35 tons of solid waste every day. The SMC’s inaction over lifting garbage from various parts of the town is posing a major health threat to residents of various localities here,” the local residents said.
Residents also said the shopkeepers were major contributors of garbage as most of them dump their solid waste on the roadsides and SMC is a mute spectator.
“In the absence of community dustbins, open public spaces and the roads become convenient garbage dumps for people. The municipalities workers are protesting after they were beaten by the locals of Aidapura Sopore where SMC was dumping the waste”, said the locals.
According to locals 80 per cent of the solid waste generated by the town is thrown on streets, pavements or into open drains and water bodies. “The sanitation workers have to do the collection on a door-to-door basis, sweep the roads and clean a huge network of open drains, which is a daunting task, which they do not do,” they said.
The Town is already facing a huge challenge when it comes to disposing of solid waste as the SMC has been struggling to find a suitable place for this. “We do not have a dumping ground now, previously we used to dump the waste in Adipura Sopore, but the local village objected it and have protested against it, our five men were also injured in the protest and many vehicles where damaged by the local villagers, so our employees are protesting,” said LatifAhmad, Executive officer Sopore Municipality.
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