SHILLONG: The Shillong Cantonment has denied allegations of Hynniewtrep National Youth Front (HNYF) about rampant dumping of garbage by the armed forces and residents of Cantonment in Umshyrpi River
Terming the statement as false, baseless and unfounded, the CEO of the Shillong Cantonment, D Kyndiah said that the Cantonment is a deemed municipal with upkeep of health and sanitation as one of the basic and mandatory duties of the board.
Kyndiah said the Cantonment Board is well equipped with garbage trucks and these trucks collect garbage on a daily basis (door to door collection and collection from main dustbins) from the civilian pockets of Cantonment i.e Jhalupara Bazar and Cantonment Bazar as well as from the military pockets and units of the entire Cantonment.
Informing that a total of 40 garbage collection pits have been installed and kept in these areas wherein the residents of armed forces dump their garbage for collection, the CEO stated that in addition, a large number of twin bins have also been placed all over the Cantonment.“The garbage collected from these areas are being dumped in the Trenching Ground maintained by the Shillong Municipal at Marten, Mawiong on a daily basis. Therefore, the remote possibility of Cantonment residents and armed forces crossing the road and dumping garbage in Umshyrpi river simply does not arise. There is absolutely no need whatsoever for the armed forces and the residents to move out of the Cantonment to dump garbage since the task is being carried out by the Board meticulously in an organised manner,” the CEO said. The CEO also said that garbage can also be seen flowing downstream from the upper areas which are not under the jurisdiction of the Cantonment Board even as it was informed that the Board often undertakes the cleaning of Umshyrpi river by organising cleaning drives participated by both the staff of the Cantonment Board, Armed forces and residents.The area wherein the dumping of garbage can be seen is along the old alignment of the Umshyrpi Bridge which is under the maintenance of the PWD department of the state government and there is free and open access to all. The CEO further said that illegal parking of private and recovery vehicles can be seen close to the area where garbage has been dumped and hence, to put the blame solely on the Cantonment residents and armed forces is not in order.
“Since private vehicles and recovery vehicles are parking there close by and the road is free to access by all, the illegal dumping could have been undertaken by anyone, especially at night,” Kyndiah said. Earlier, the HNYF had sought the intervention of the Assembly’s Committee on Environment into the alleged dumping of garbage by the armed forces and residents of Cantonment area into the Umshyrpi river.
