Mawkyrwat: The office of the Basin Development Unit (BDU), Mawkyrwat in collaboration with the office of the Sankur, Mawkywat on Friday organised a training programme on waste management for all vegetable vendors and shopkeepers in Mawkyrwat Market.
Speaking on the occasion, PHE sub-divisional officer R Nongdhar said, “We should not keep clean only our own houses but our surrounding and our market places as well due to the fact that the environment is also our home.”
He also urged shopkeepers to refrain from providing plastic bags to their customers and encouraged NGOs and SHGs to manufacture organic bags..
Nongdhar informed that through the Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin the government is providing schemes to set up compost tanks to dump waste materials, soak pits to collect waste water and community storage to keep solid waste.
He also urged the people to participate in answering the questions in the Swachh Survekshan Grameen (SSG), 2019 app which the Central Government has launched.
Meanwhile, BDU programme officer Sywell Lyngdoh said that the training was organised to create awareness on how to collect and dispose waste systematically in the market and to keep it clean.
While speaking on the importance of being shopkeepers he said, “This place is a place where we earn our daily bread and educate our children. Most of the educated people from Mawkywat are the sons and daughters of shopkeepers from Mawkyrwat Market”.
“However, the market has begun to lose its beauty because of the carelessness of people and if this continues, a time might come when the NGT will close down the marke,” he said. He also encouraged vegetable vendors to have their own associations and to keep the market clean for the future generations.
Meanwhile, Khraw Kharlukhi, secretary of LASARA Society, Mawlai emphasised on the importance of proper waste management in order to reduce pollution in the environment.
He said that the increase in population and the consumerist behaviour of people led to an increase in waste especially plastic.
Later during the day, interactive discussions were held with shopkeepers about the pros and cons of waste management.
