Our Correspondent
Imphal, May 7 (EMN): Following a ban imposed by the residents on disposal of garbage and waste materials at Lamdeng Khunou, the outskirt of Imphal, the Imphal Municipal Corporation (IMC) has been facing difficulties.
Solid waste management issue has severely affected Manipur particularly in greater Imphal areas due to lack of alternative disposal sites and subsequent complaint by the locals.
The IMC authorities on Tuesday managed to collect the waste from the main market areas in Imphal and those accumulated at IMC office after the authority reportedly discover a temporary dumping site in the outskirt of Imphal town.
Earlier, door to door collection of the municipal solid waste and other waste materials by IMC and 14 other non-governmental organisations affiliated to IMC has been stopped since the past few days forcing the residents to pile up the waste at their gates after locals prevented the disposal of waste at state’s waste management plant at Lamdeng khunou in.
In view of the development, the waste collected by more than a dozen vehicles of IMC from the areas under busy Imphal market were even once accumulated inside the office premises of the IMC in the heart of Imphal town. As a result the office premise of IMC was filled with foul smell of solid waste round the clock.
Reports said the locals of the Lamdeng area under Imphal west district have prevented the movement of vehicles carrying the solid waste and their disposals at the waste management plant at Lamdeng.
Locals protested over the failure of the authority to fulfill the long standing demand of construction of necessary infrastructure including road, fencing and drains around the lone solid waste management plant at Lamdeng under Lamshang assembly constituency.
However, the IMC claimed that necessary work order could not be issued as the election model code of conduct is still in force even though due process has been initiated to translate the local people’s demands into action.
It may be mentioned that the Imphal town generates more than 100 metric tonnes of solid waste on daily basis and the vehicles of the affiliated NGOs and IMC have been transporting them using more than 50 truck loads to the Lamdeng plant for further processing after the establishment of the plant few years ago.
Around 65 percent of the municipal wastes generated in Imphal area are of plastic waste apart other forms of waste including electronic waste which needs segregation for proper disposal. There are also reports of generating a good amount of bio-medical waste from many health care institutes in the state.
