Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Law and Justice today directed the officials to come up with a comprehensive mechanism for the effective solid waste management in the state which should be implemented in the state at earliest.Minister was speaking at a workshop organised by Srinagar Municipal Corporation with an aim to debate and discuss issues regarding Solid Waste Management.Abdul Haq asked the officers to come with solutions for the waste management preferably within a week’s time so that government can act upon the recommendations or Plan and start working over it. Minister said the officials deliberated upon various issues regarding the waste management during which they interacted with a galaxy of experts from various Governmental and Non-Governmental Organisation across the country.He said government want the experts to devise a comprehensive and effective mechanism for the solid waste management. He said the sanitation, cleanliness and waste disposal and management is a major challenge before the government and in the absence of a proper waste management plan in rural areas, we are polluting the environment and many of the water bodies especially springs have got either polluted or wiped out.
Minister said earlier less attention was paid to the waste management in rural areas but the 2014 floods taught us that focus needs to be given in rural areas as majority of the population lives there. He said majority of the streams and Nallahs have been converted into small drains due to reckless garbage dumping and the choking of these streams lead to devastation in 2014.He said an effective mechanism will be put in place in all the villages, towns and cities of the state to ensure that appropriate solid waste management practices are introduced.Terming the anti-Polythene drive a major success, Minister said during the drive huge quantity of polythene was recovered by the department and an effective mechanism will be placed to dispose off the recovered polythene. He said soon every Panchayat will have its own waste management system and it will used to generate income.During the workshop, experts from various states gave detailed presentations of various solid waste management projects which are in place in different states of the country.The meeting was attended by Coordinator JK Government’s Grievance Cell Tassaduq Hussain Mufti, SMC Commissioner Dr Shafqat Khan, Director Rural Sanitation, Director Urban Local Bodies, CEOs of various Developmental Authorities and other senior officers of Municipalities, Rural Development and Urban Local Bodies.