Peri-urban areas: State mulls land use policy to improve solid waste management
kolkata: The state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs department is planning to come up with a comprehensive land use policy for improving solid waste management in the peri urban areas in the city.
These are areas that are located under panchayat jurisdiction but share their borders with the urban local bodies. These have emerged as hotspots, when it comes to dengue cases in the state.
"The solid waste management infrastructure in the urban areas have been improved. But the situation is not so good in the peri urban areas. So, we are trying to come out with a comprehensive land use policy for these areas primarily for better management of waste," Firhad Hakim, Urban Development and Municipal Affairs (UD & MA) minister said on Thursday. During the question answer session at the state Assembly, Hakim urged all MLAs to organise awareness camps in their respective constituencies regarding 'do's and don't's' to prevent the spread of dengue. Meanwhile, with the rise in dengue cases Principal Secretary of UD & MA department Khalil Ahmed has ordered all urban local bodies to undertake an intensive "Pulse Mode cleaning activity" at all wards in two rounds. The first round should be conducted from September 26 till October 1 while the second round from October 11 to 16. The intensive cleaning drive should focus on unmanaged waterbodies, vacant land, blocked drains, closed establishments , areas in and around puja pandals and other vulnerable garbage sites.
The District Magistrates have been asked to convene a coordination meeting to draw up the micro plan and depute officers for monitoring the cleaning activity. Responding to a request from BJP MLA Sankar Ghosh, Chandrima Bhattacharjee, minister of state for Health stated that medical team has already visited Siliguri and will do so again. "Number of dengue cases were negligible in 2020 and 2021 when there was a predominance of COVID-19. In 2019, there was a surge in dengue cases. This year, the surge is much less than 2019 but we are always vigilant and are taking measures to combat the spread," she added.
