A piling concern: Dimapur's waste management crisis

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• Garbage dumped at an undesignated point near Faith Hospital at Sewak Road in Dimapur.

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• DIMAPUR — Dimapur’s rapid urbanisation has led to a substantial increase in municipal waste generation, with 1000 metric tonnes of waste collected per day.
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• The city of Dimapur is gasping for quite literally everything: smooth traffic, a clean river, and better sanitation. In addition, the district has always suffered inconsistent implementation and lack of accountability.
  
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• Ineffective policy implementation and monitoring have emerged from the limitations of the wet and dry waste segregation plant, which have been exacerbated by unorganised public behaviour. With around 1000 metric tonnes of waste disposed of every day at the Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC) dumpsite located at Burma Camp, the requirement for a waste segregation plant gains urgency.
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• A rag picker is seen collecting plastic waste dumped along an undesignated point at Army Supply Road in Dimapur.

DMC sanitation workers are seen clearing garbage at an undesignated point along the Khermahal Road in Dimapur on Sunday morning.

• Failed project
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• Several moves to implement segregated door-to-door waste collection by DMC in the previous years—aimed at streamlining the city’s waste management system— appear to have failed.
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• The convenor of DMC Sanitation Branch, Achum Jam, told Eastern Mirror that the pilot project named ‘Segregated door-to-door collection of household waste’, introduced in Duncan Bosti and Riverbelt colony under Ward 11, was called off because of the non-availability of the waste segregation plant.
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• The pilot project was launched on February 2, 2024, where the then DMC administrator W Manpai Phom had said that the project was not a sudden activity but one that was conceptualised over a long period of time.
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• However, the experimental project did not last even a year. According to Jami, even if the waste was segregated at the household, it was of no use because at the dumpsite, it was deposited together with the other wastes.
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• He said that they have now submitted a proposal for setting up the waste segregation plant in Dimapur.
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• “Let us hope that our request is acknowledged, which will also solve major sanitation issues in Dimapur. Otherwise, waste segregation even at the household level will not be successful without the facility,” he said.

• Poor sanitation hotspots
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• Roads, footpaths and market areas in Dimapur are an eyesore as they are left littered with trash, disregarding the works of the sanitation workers. Rain or shine—for 365 days a year—the 208 sanitation workers are on the streets of Dimapur by 4.30 am, sweeping the streets and collecting garbage from 120+ colonies (98 colonies are registered colonies and the remaining are yet to be recognised) with the 27 small and big garbage trucks—some as old as 15 to 20 years.
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• However, their task is turned herculean due to a lack of civic sense as well as accountability.
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• According to Jami and DMC Sanitation Enforcement Inspector Wapang, the hotspots for poor sanitation in Dimapur are Midland, Supply Colony, Khermahal Road, Railway Bazaar area, and Eros Lane area, as residents haphazardly dumped garbage in the open.
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• Also, Jami said that people residing in the commercial areas have zero sense of accountability, as those areas contribute a major junk of residential garbage by dumping it on the roadside and in the drainage.
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• However, both Jami and Wapang shared that some of the areas where garbage was dumped openly at undesignated points have been covered to prevent the illegal practice.
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• On the distribution of dustbins to shopkeepers after charging money, Jami clarified that they have made it compulsory in order to address the garbage menace. The size of the dustbin, he said, is determined by the size of the shop.
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• According to him, it should not be an issue, as every shop generates waste, and this waste is meant to be collected in the dustbin and not dumped haphazardly.
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• Monsoon preparation
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• With drains choked and the monsoon just around the corner, the convenor of DMC Sanitation Branch said that at their board meeting, every councillor has been given the responsibility, at their respective wards, to conduct awareness campaign before June.
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• “Recognising that sanitation issue is a task which requires manpower and accountability, every ward councillor is assigned to put in their effort to sensitise the public on sanitation," he shared.
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• Jami updated that the DMC has started clearing the drainages ward-wise, and they have covered three wards so far.
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• He said that when it comes to drainage in the city, every ward in the Dimapur municipal area is the same, and in some colonies—with special mention for Supply colony—it looks like the drainages haven’t been cleared for many years.
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• The councillor said that three teams have been formed for waste management in the city—two teams designated as Special Task Force for clearing drainage and the other team for sweeping the city daily.
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• Also, he said that the ward councillors will inform the Sanitation Branch if any issue arises in their wards with regard to the sanitation issue so that it can be addressed promptly.

Also read: Dimapur: Minor bridges on NH-36 yet to open for traffic and public