The scientific methods to dispose of the wastage at Achan—a dumping site has miserably failed so far in the past several years. Even the initiatives taken and aspired by the concerned Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) has failed to bring any fruit to the local dwellers. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) had on 12 December 2017 ordered for completion of the 5-MW plant within 18 months at Achan. However, five years have elapsed, but the project is still nowhere, leading to the sufferings of the common masses. One fails to understand why the local populace is being pushed to the wall by not taking the concrete measures on priority to put an end to the sufferings of the masses. Every now and then, the residents have been pleading for some relief from the foul smell emanating from the dumping site, but nothing has changed for them as the situation is only worsening with each passing day while all the scientific measures have gone for a toss. There were plans to come up with the waste-to-energy plant for utilising dumped biomass to generate electricity, but these decisions have remained confined to the papers to the papers only. It is high time that the government should rope in the experts and come up with concrete measures in this regard, else the situation would be quite hazardous for the local residents as well as to those living close to the vicinity.
Don’t make poor homeless
The government has launched a massive encroachment drive across Jammu & Kashmir in a bid to retrieve the land including...
