Civic bodies asked to identify land for waste mgmt: Firhad

Letters have been given to all civic bodies to identify land for waste management after assuring that the Municipal Affairs department will be providing fund for the projects, said Firhad Hakim, the state Municipal Affairs minister in Assembly on Wednesday.

In reply to a question raised by Congress MLA Asit Mitra regarding solid waste management system at Chinsura in Hooghly, Hakim said that there are compactor machines in the area.

He also told the Assembly that initiatives of Uttarpara-Kotrung in solid waste management paved their way for a global award.

He said that it is not possible for the department to identify land in the local areas. It can be done in a better way by the local authorities and the fund required to develop waste management system will be provided by the department.

In reply to a question by CPI(M) MLA Anisur Rahaman regarding elections in the newly formed civic bodies, Hakim said: “We are in touch with the State Election Commission and the election will be held at the right time. But at present, there is a need to create infrastructure. First we have to create space for elected councillors to sit.”

Raising the issue of corporate social responsibility programme of different major companies, Jitendra Tiwari, Trinamool Congress MLA, said that many companies are giving money for waste management under their CSR projects, but the funds are being used for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s advertisement instead of being used for his Swachh Bharat mission. He asked the municipal affairs minister whether the state government has anything to do in this regard?

In reply Hakim said: “We all know that he (Prime Minister) is prachar minister. But state government has nothing to do in this regard as CSR is completely dependent on the discretion of the companies. At the most we can request them to include certain aspects in their CSR projects, but we cannot compel them.”