By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: A meeting has been convened on Monday by the CEO, Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) with the Rangbah Shnong of Laitumkhrah as the first targeted area in an initiative taken by the new Municipal and Urban Affairs Minister, Ampareen Lyngdoh, in a series of steps to clean up Shillong.
The move came in the wake of reckless dumping of garbage in the city. Ampareen said that as an MLA, she had targeted her constituency first and then will move to other areas. The dustbin near the Laitumkhrah Municipal Market has been dismantled and has been converted into a parking space.
“The Laitumkhrah and Lummawrie areas have been told to dump their waste directly into the truck that will visit twice daily.
The MLA said a system of shop to shop collection of garbage will be in place and no shopkeeper will be allowed to dump rubbish on the road or dustbin.
If required they have to wait for the collection trucks to come,” said the minister.
She even threatened penal action against shopkeepers who violate the order, adding that her department is working out on modalities to further curb such practices by shopkeepers in the town.
Plastic bags, which are contributing to overall garbage in the city are banned in many cities all over the country.
The minister said she would seek information as why the ban on plastic bags did not work in the State since there was a lot of ground work done in this sector in the past.
“We are already too late in banning plastic bags. It is time to use other alternatives such as biodegradable bags used by shopkeepers in Gangtok, Shimla etc. But then again to have these bags we have to depend on markets like Guwahati since there is no local production here,” said the minister.
There is a growing demand for unemployed youth to be brought under the NREGS for locality cleaning drives and other civic management matters.
The minister while clarifying that the NREGS has only been earmarked for the rural areas said that similar schemes with the same components are under process in the Union Ministry of Community and Rural Development earmarked for the urban youths, which will provide them with 100 days employment.
Besides, there are plans to make surprise visits to various localities to understand the ground situation on the collection of garbage. It is learnt that the erstwhile system of community participation in locality cleaning and garbage collection took a backseat due to fund constraints.
Environ clearance for SWMP: The State Government is waiting for a clearance from the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment to launch the Scientific Waste Management Programme (SWMP) at the proposed five-acre land near the existing dumping ground at Marten, Mawiong.
“We are waiting for the environment clearance for setting up the SWMP at Marten. The environment clearance is required since around 500 to 700 trees are required to be brought down,” Ampareen said.
The first installment of Rs 2.5 crore is expected to be released immediately after the environment clearance for the Rs 4-crore project to be funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The minister also informed that the ‘biodegradable machine’ at Marten stopped functioning in 2006-07 and started working just three days ago. “The contractor has been given more time to see if the huge amount of garbage that has accumulated there for many years could be processed,” she said.
Marten, where around 120 tonnes of waste are dumped every day, is the only garbage dumping area for the entire city for the past 76 years.
“There is an urgent need to find out an alternative place,” she said.
The Government has already finalised a 54-acre plot of land at Mawdiangdiang in New Shillong Township for construction of a permanent land-filled site to be funded by the ADB.
The minister said she would visit similar sites at Nongpoh and a new one coming up in Tura.