Jahangeer Ganaie
Pulwama, Jul 6: The Small Industries Development Corporation (SIDCO) Industrial area at Lassipora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district is functioning without a waste disposal facility and dumping site, resulting in all waste being dumped into the Ranbiara rivulet.
The unit holders said the garbage generated in the industrial area is being dumped on the bank of the Ranbiara rivulet, thereby posing a threat to the water body on which thousands of people depend for drinking and irrigation purposes.
Official sources in the industrial area said that every day, heaps of garbage are being thrown into the rivulet, which poses health hazards to thousands of people. “Despite repeated communications to the unit holders to use dustbins, which are to be collected by municipal authorities daily, most unit holders continue to dump all waste in the main water body, which is the primary source of drinking water for people in dozens of villages,” they said.
Locals from Heff, Shirmal, Sugan, Achan, Petipora, Panjran and adjacent areas said that garbage has been thrown into the water body for years, posing a threat to the environment, lives, farmland, and orchards of the area.
The unit holders said that authorities have been collecting fees and generating revenue but have failed to provide the necessary facilities. They said they have brought this issue to the attention of concerned authorities several times, but no action has been taken. “There is no other option for them as there is no waste management plant in such a vast industrial estate, which is spread over around six thousand kanals,” they said.
“Until the government provides such facilities, there is no other option for us than to dump the waste in the open,” the unit holders added.
Meanwhile, officials said that a common effluent treatment plant is functional in the industrial area and facilities for solid waste management are being created.
Strict action will be taken against anyone found throwing waste in the Ranbiara rivulet, the officials warned.
