JAMMU CALLS FOR SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

With an increase in population, demands for the natural resources increased manifold. But
due to shortage of resources as earth has finite resources, demand for these resources also
increased. Consequently technological revolution emerged as the front runner for meticulously
fulfilling the demands of exceptionally growing population. But with every technological
innovation some ill effects surface and same has been recorded for the past few decades in the
form of solid wastes in India in particular and world in general. J&K the Himalayan state is no
exception to this ferocious ill repercussion of technological advancement. Like other parts of the
globe, people of J&K are also increasingly becoming dependent on the technological benefits.
Subsequent to the dependence of mankind on industries, the beautiful environs of man are being
degraded into filthy areas due to their conversion into waste dumping sites.

Since the eruption of militancy, the whole state of Jammu and Kashmir has not only turned
out to be an economically fragile state but also a dump yard of solid waste. While municipal
corporations have the man power to manage the solid waste in rest of the districts but in Srinagar
and Jammu, the situation is worsening due to the influx of tourists and pilgrims. Srinagar witnesses
an enormous growth in solid waste generation during the Amarnath yatra but Jammu
comparatively is at loosing end as Vaishnov Devi pilgrims rush to Jammu for Darshan purposes.
Jammu the city of temples is a famous destination for the Vaishnov Devi pilgrims and tourists.
Jammu is linked with other parts of the country by rail, road and air. It is the most important entry-
point to J & K State and the city serves as a transit camp for the tourists to the valley and yatris of
Vaishno Devi and Amarnath. The tourist traffic to Valley during the past years had suffered due to
disturbances in the Valley. On the other hand with renovation of Vaishno Devi Shrine and
development of road to Katra, number of tourists to shrine had touched the peak of 45.0 lakh
during the year 1999. It is increasing every year. It is noticed that there has been increase of 8-10%
annually in the number of Yatris to Vaishno Devi during the years 1994, 1995 and 1996. Similarly
yatris to Amamath cave have also recorded increase of 0.60 lakh in 1995 to 1.20 lakh in 1996.
Though influx of Yatris to Vaishno Devi continues in all months of the years, however, the peak
season for tourist traffic to Vaishno Devi is during Navaratas which fall in the months of April and
October every year. For Amarnath Yatra, peak season is during July to September. During peak
period, Jammu accommodates about 40,000 to 50,000 yatries per day. In the course of time the
city has witnessed an unparalleled growth in the population due to migration of the people from
Kashmir, Doda, Poonch, Rajouri and other border areas of the state. Consequently population
bloom has engulfed it and led to an increase in the solid waste and other related pollutants. At
present the city generates about 600 tonnes of solid waste per day. However only about 80% of it
is collected and 66% is disposed off. The uncleared waste remains littered on the road sides, open
spaces and is even dumped in water bodies leading to insanitary living environment of the city. In
most of the areas of Jammu solid waste is manually collected in two stages - initially from streets,
lanes and bye-lanes, in the absence of garbage bin and taken to any place which is generally an
open area, road side or at few places garbage dumps. It is then taken in trucks or tractors to land
fill sites for final disposal. Usually due to delay in disposal of waste these sites become public
nuisance.

Solid Waste Management is the mandatory obligation of the municipal bodies. The present
state of affairs calls for an improvement in the formulation of effective framework through an
integrated approach. Solid Waste Management is an integral part of the Community life. The
system takes its shape as per need, available resources, technological development and recognition
of its importance by the Community. Inappropriate system poses significant risks and adverse
impact on health, environment and aesthetics.

At present Jammu Municipal Corporation has in-house mechanism for solid waste
management which comprises of the following equipment and over 100 workers/labourers.

Each vehicle has about 5 labourers for loading and unloading of garbage. The collected
solid waste is dumped into the Tawi River. Segregation of wastes is not practiced in the city.
People generally throw their domestic wastes into the streets or in drains in front of houses. The
sweepers clean these wastes and deposit in the bins provided by the Municipal corporation. Present
situation of temporary storage is bad. According to recent survey, nearly half of the households in
the city dispose of solid waste by throwing it outside the house. Only 29% of the households use
private bins and local garbage collectors for disposal of garbage. Community bins are used by 22%
of the households and % of households' burn their solid waste. The data indicates that the
frequency daily the collection of solid waste in 11, survey localities was 33%, 24% with
collections only 2-3 times a week, and 21% of the houses had a weekly collection service. Though
18% of the households do not have any idea as to how often disposal collection is done. In case of
4% of the households, the disposed garbage was never picked up.

Besides this biomedical waste like human anatomical waste, animal waste, microbiological
waste, needles, discarded bandages & plaster casts, scalpels, glass bottles, discarded medicines,
chemical waste etc also haunts the public with stinging foul smell they generate. Although
responsibility for proper disposal of bio- medical waste devolves on the institutions generating it
but the same doesn’t seem to hold true for Jammu. Biomedical waste management and handling
Rules 1998 clearly mentions that the occupier of an institution generating bio medical waste shall
be responsible for taking necessary steps to ensure that such waste is handled without any adverse
effect to human health and the environment.

As a matter of fact solid waste dumped in open have been found by the researchers to have
adverse effects like emitting bad odour, breeding pests, generating inflammable gases,
contamination of ground water by leaching and surface water by run off, increasing soil acidity,
releasing green house gases etc and thus affect the human sustenance. So if the solid waste is not
efficiently managed, not only will it create aesthetic nuisance but will also serve to provide for
health related problems.

Dr. S.M. Zubair

The Himalayan Ecological and Conservation Research Foundation, J&K
43-16/B Mangotrian, Rajpura, Shaktinagar, Jammu.