State identifies 123 legacy dumpsites from about 128 urban local bodies

KOLKATA: With an aim to give further stress on solid waste management, the State government has identified 123 legacy dumpsites from 128 urban local bodies for the management of solid waste through bio-mining. The government has given a special thrust on 100 per cent source segregation and disposal of solid waste adopting low cost hybrid model etc.

Solid waste management has been taken up as a serious issue by the state environment department and a proper road map is being created for shifting the existing dumping sites from various places and also for properly segregating the toxic materials. Expert teams are visiting various places to take stock of the situation and suggest how the local civic bodies can go about mitigating the problem permanently. Recently, a detailed project report (DPR) has already been prepared for solid waste management in Darjeeling as well.

Experts pointed out that owing to the non-segregation of waste, methane gas is produced. Methane is highly combustible. The toxic gasses affect the lungs, kidney, liver and also cause allergies. Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim recently in the Assembly said that the mound of waste will be completely removed from Dhapa within the next two years. More than 50 per cent of removal works have been done. Around 1,10,000 metric tons of solid waste is still lying in Dhapa ground. Around 13,769 tons of solid waste is generated in the city every day out of which around 13,300 tons of waste is collected from door to door.

Incidentally, works for construction of 31 Biodiversity parks are going on in full swing while 8 of these have already been completed. The West Bengal Pollution Control Board has taken up an initiative for marine water quality monitoring including river Hooghly, Damodar, Mahananda, Rupnarayan, Teesta, Torsha and others.

The State environment plan (SEP) and district environment plans (DEPs) for all 23 districts have been completed.

The preparation of comprehensive action plan (CAP) for 6 cities namely Kolkata, Howrah, barrackpore, Asansol, Durgapur and Haldia, identified as non-attainment cities, has been completed and implementation is being done.