SHILLONG, Feb 23: The battle between the citizens of West Jaintia Hills district and the state government on waste management seems to have taken a positive turn as the final stages of acquiring land for waste disposal and treatment in the district are underway.
This was informed by National People’s Party (NPP) MLA from Jowai, Wailadmiki Shylla in a statement on Wednesday.
“Now inspection has been done, land identified – like in Shillong, there is protest in Jowai regarding the land. We are moving forward, the district administration is calling the stakeholders and discussions are on and hopefully this thing will end very soon; we are in final stage of acquiring the land and the problem will be solved,” said Shylla.
It may be noted that the town of Jowai was recently filling up with heaps of garbage in unspecified areas and public spaces due to vehement protest of people who have been objecting the designation of landfill sites in and around their residential zones.
Informing that the heap of garbage has been cleared now as a temporary arrangement, he said, “I request those protesting to cooperate with the district administration and the government in acquiring the land so that we can solve the issue of waste management in Jowai.”
Making an appeal to those protesting, especially the pressure groups of the district, Shylla said, “I request them instead of protesting, come forward and give awareness to the local people out there because we all know we cannot just throw the garbage as per Supreme Court order we have to treat it scientifically and we are on it.”
Stating that it is the responsibility of each and every individual to keep their surroundings clean, he said, “Everyone should contribute if they segregate from their household that will also help a lot all the plastic waste can be sent to the factory nearby out there everyone need to contribute to solve the problem.”