Making rural areas environmentally ambient
Quite often we highlight the poor state or rural sanitation in our news columns and the people too have been forthright in bringing these issues to the fore front. Be it lack of dumping sites or waste collection points in rural areas or lack of staff and vehicles used in clearing and collection of waste material, problems are galore.
Though sanitation across Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed huge changes over the past few years. The twin cities of Jammu and Srinagar have been particularly been in focus over the past few years and a lot of work on the sanitation front has been done with considerable improvements being witnessed year on year.
Not only have the twin cities provided the facilities of waste disposal but the door to door collection of garbage and other household waste is being ensured so that sanitation management can be achieved to the best possible levels.
Srinagar as well as Jammu city witnesses good footfall of tourists and managing the sanitation of these cities is becoming all the more important. However, there are certain loopholes as well which need to be addressed on timely basis.
As of now the collected garbage in both the cities is not being properly segregated. Dry and wet garbage is being mixed together which is making the management of the waste quite hazardous.
Though we cannot point fingers at the authorities alone as the citizens too have a moral responsibility to segregate the waste generated in our homes so that the management of waste is done in accordance to the scientific advisories issued in this regard.
However, as far as waste management is concerned lot of work needs to be done in the rural areas where many villages and even parts of towns are left out on various fronts.
In the rural areas out of the total of 6,650 villages, 4,585 villages (69%) are covered by door-to-door garbage collection, leaving garbage disposal in the rest of the villages at the mercy of the local population.
Ironically, the rural areas across the UT too have been generating huge amounts of waste and garbage owing to fast urbanisation of the rural areas. The waste that is being generated is as of now being dumped in open spaces at most of the places and this phenomenon has been proving to be a weak link in the garbage management in rural areas.
Notably, Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen)-II (SBM-G Phase-II) is already being implemented here, but the strides that should have been made under this scheme are not upto the mark.
Importantly, the scheme has ample of funds available for the municipal authorities to spend on improving the infrastructure and facilities as well but the spending has been on the lower side.
Officials need to stress on the need to bring in more changes and improvements in rural sanitation. The officials also need to underscore the importance of verifying the dashboard data with the ground realities, ensuring both are aligned as the purpose behind infrastructural investments is to enhance cleanliness, and to make villages more liveable and environmentally ambient.
