Manufactured disasters
Environmental pollution is one such sphere where lots of efforts are needed to achieve some milestones. We are confronted with a waste management crisis not only in cities and towns but elsewhere as very little attention is being paid towards this issue.
According to the World Bank 46% of the population in the world is living in the rural areas. And it is here that very little attention is being provided to address the concerns raised by the lack of efforts otherwise needed for waste management.
Solid waste management in rural areas is a key issue in developing and transitioning countries due to the lack of proper waste management facilities and services. This makes the issue all the more important as lot of efforts are needed to reach to a point where solid waste management can touch satisfactory levels.
Since a majority of our population is living in rural areas these areas deserve a well planned approach to manage the solid waste as the mounds of untreated waste is consuming and polluting the environment at a much rapid pace.
Presently, a majority of our population in villages do not have a proper mechanism to deal with the garbage and other solid waste coming from these areas, as a well defined mechanism to collect garbage and solid waste is mostly available and limited to urban areas only.
As the rural life is somewhat proving to be a replica of the urban life these days, the waste output is increasing almost at the same pace as it is being generated in the cities. Therefore, the management of the solid waste assumes more significance as the rural areas lack an organized system to tackle this issue.
There is a huge quantity of waste produced in villages as the life styles in village’s and populations too have improved and increased over the period of time. The villages are also facing the menace of solid and liquid waste, but due to unavailability of any services from the administration this issue remains unaddressed.
More so, the issue of waste management gets complicated with wrong planning and execution. One such example that can be cited is the decision of the municipal authorities at Shopian to dump the solid waste on the banks of famed Rainbara nallah.
The issue of dumping solid waste on the banks of nallah was raised vociferously through the columns of this newspaper and it was after lot of persuasion that the administration accepted to shift the dumping site far from the main water body.
However, few months after the decision was taken, the district administration has shifted municipal waste dumping site from one bank of the nallah to another. The new dumping site is very close to sports stadium Shopian and new fruit mandi at Aglar Shopian which is creating a nauseating situation around the area.
The nallah is not only the only source of water for various purposes in the entire belt but creating a dumping site close to it has once again created environmental concerns. And all this has happened when lot of noise is being raised to create awareness among the people for preserving and conserving our environment.
KV Network
