Dirty hands: Nagaland generates 9% of North-east’s waste

GUWAHATI, AUGUST 10: THE entire north east region of the country currently produces about 1.0 million tonnes of waste annually. Out of it, Assam accounts for about 40 percent, Mizoram about 20 percent, Tripura 12 percent, Nagaland 9 percent and Manipur 4 percent, according to New Delhi-based research and advocacy organization- Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Less than 50 per cent of the waste is formally collected by the city governments of the northeast, less than 10 per cent is processed and recycled. The information were shared by Chandra Bushan, Deputy Director of CSE, during a book launch session of the organization here at NEDFi Convention Centre in Guwahati where the Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal released a 190 paged book ‘Not in My Backyard: Solid Waste Management in Indian cities.’ In his deliberation, Chandra Bhushan said, “This book started as a survey to simply find out which is India’s cleanest city and what makes it so. We knew that if we could find the answers to these questions, we will have the answers for future policy.” The book release was followed by a discussion with city officials, regulators, urban planners, consultants and NGOs on the direction that waste management should take in the northeast. Assam Chief Minister Sonowal, after conferring CSE’s Clean City Awards on two cities – Aizawl and Gangtok, to the Mayor of Gangtok Municipal Corporation Shakti Singh Choudhury and Municipal Commissioner Dr H Lalthlangliana, also spoke on the occasion. In his brief speech, Sonowal also admitted that his state will be among the prize winning category in the coming years for which he sought help and cooperation from the CSE team to provide necessary inputs to achieve the goals. Responding to the statement, CSE’s functionary Chandra Bhushan also assured the gathering that they are ready to come with some manual and training programmes on solid waste management in the NE region. It may be mentioned that two of the 14 urban centres CSE has rated in its publication as cities with good waste management practices. In Arunachal Pradesh, haphazard dumping is the common practice of waste disposal in local communities, while Meghalaya has only one compost plant located in the Mawiong dumpsite, 8 km from the city of Shillong. The municipal solid waste generated from the Imphal municipality area is now haphazardly dumped at a privately-owned low lying ground at Lamphelpat and some other land fill sites. In Kohima, the only recycling carried out to some extent is by the rag pickers. Wastes are generally dumped in open streams or burnt in empty spaces. This is due to the limited waste storing capacity available in the city. In Guwahati, the municipality is dumping its waste on a wetland site. So far, no concrete system of segregation has been put on place. In Agartala, all the garbage collected from the city is disposed of in two open dump yards without proper processing.