TURA, June 25: The Tura Municipal Board (TMB) has begun the work of clearing garbage spilled over from its dumping ground at Rongkhon Songgital to the Christian cemetery and the banks of the Ringre stream below, after the High Court of Meghalaya directed the same following a petition filed earlier in this regard.
The petition in the High Court was filed by the Graveyard Committee Secretary, Stephen Ch Sangma, in which he stated that due to the absence of a guard wall around the dumping ground, garbage was spilling over to the cemetery and covering the graves.
Sangma, in his petition, also pointed out that the act is in violation of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, and requested that the dumping ground be shifted from the current site.
During the hearing, the Counsel for the petitioner argued that the graveyard is in bad shape due to the dumping of waste by the TMB and sought that necessary direction may be given.
The counsel for the TMB also agreed with the submission resulting in the High Court directive.
Meanwhile, West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Jagadish Chelani has also informed that work to clear the garbage from the cemetery and the banks of the Ringre stream is currently under way.
“Work to clear the bank of the stream has been ongoing for the last three days. Three JCBs along with staff from TMB are on the job round the clock. Protection structures have been built to avoid future similar such scenarios,” Chelani said.
The DC also informed that the process was on to take onboard an agency which will process all the leftover waste.
“The end goal is to reclaim the dumping ground in the next six months and create a public park/office over it,” he added.
