All eyes on household waste disposal scheme

One of the biggest environmental hazards, the unscientifically disposed household waste littered over Shimla hills has lately attracted attention of civic bodies of the town and educational institutions as well.

One of the biggest environmental hazards, the unscientifically disposed household waste littered over Shimla hills has lately attracted attention of civic bodies of the town and educational institutions as well. With Pollution Control Board’s (PCB) and forest department’s constant eye on the issue, a way has been paved for formulation of immediate steps for household waste management.

Beginning October 1, the Shimla Municipal Corporation would launch cleaning up operations of all hill tops, where garbage is littered, causing the nullahs to choke. The failure of natural drainage system of the town forces the water channels to change its course, leading to landslides.

A special task force with 15 members, primarily safai karamcharis, would clean the hill tops and nullahs on a regular basis in some wards.

This would be followed by door-to-door driven by girls of different educational institutions.

They would be involved in educating people about segregation of bio-degradable and non-bio degradable waste at the source.

Senior officials in the Municipal Corporation said St Bedes College had volunteered for the door-to-door campaign and soon RKMV would be roped in to form teams of three girls each who would move about in localities covering 40 houses each. Over 1,000 such teams would be formed.

It was the joint action of Shimla Municipal Corporation, Forest department and state PCB that set in a motion the campaign to clean up critical areas in Shimla. Thirty-seven sites were successfully cleaned up.

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“But the question of ensuring cleanliness of the town in long term still remained. The MC would soon start two campaigns. The intention make the residents use green and black packets for garbage segregation and later providing separate dustbins for it.

The initiative of providing packets would initially be supported by the corporation,” said the official.

In the past all waste management schemes including door-to-door garbage collection scheme had failed. “Now all eyes are set on a long term measure,” said Abha Singh, a retired teacher and resident of Chotta Shimla since 60 years.