SHILLONG, Dec 14: The High Court of Meghalaya has issued a series of directions for the better management of garbage in Jowai town.
During the hearing on Tuesday, the state government filed an affidavit indicating the settlement for obtaining land to set up a permanent compost plant and timelines for the completion of the construction have also been roughly indicated.
The plant, according to the state government, is expected to be constructed within 395 days.
Meanwhile, the petitioner complained of the mounting waste in Jowai and its neighbourhood and the limited opportunities available for the disposal.
According to the petitioner, both wet and dry wastes from residential buildings are being collected but only on a weekly basis.
The Jowai Municipal Board, however, submitted that this procedure has been adopted pursuant to meetings held with the headmen and the locals, and there does not appear to be much grievance in such regard, considering that it is a temporary measure.
The Municipal Board, while submitting that a separate agreement is in place with commercial bodies for the collection of waste, said it is alive to the fact that waste cannot be allowed to remain dumped at a particular place.
The Municipal Board informed the High Court that collection centres have been set up where residents and others can dump the waste for it to be collected therefrom on a weekly basis.
“There is no doubt that the Jowai Municipal Board is doing the best that it can under the circumstances. However, it may be advisable to collect wet waste on three-day intervals rather than once a week,” the Court said.
The Jowai Municipal Board was also asked to look into such aspect of the matter, particularly since wet waste includes uneaten or rotten food, and the collection of the same leads both to foul odour and the possibility of disease in residential buildings.
Meanwhile, the petitioner, while informing that Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Limited has set up a co-processing unit at its cement plant near Lumshnong, suggested that if plastic waste is segregated by the Municipal Board, Dalmia Cement is more than willing to collect the same and use it in their industrial process.
Doing so, the petitioner said, will relieve the Jowai Municipal Board of the burden of disposing of plastic waste.
“It would be best if the petitioner takes the initiative for a meeting to be held between the Jowai Municipal Board and representatives of Dalmia Cement, under the aegis of the representative of the State at the local level for some kind of mechanism to be worked out by which the waste that can be used at the plant of Dalmia Cement can be segregated and the Municipal Board is relieved of the burden of disposing of the same,” the Court said.
Since the petitioner says that Dalmia Cement has entered into an agreement with the Shillong Municipal Board in such regard, the Jowai Municipal Board should explore possibilities of entering into a similar arrangement as expeditiously as possible, it added.
