Dr Bilal A Dar
Disposal of wastes is necessary practice among the people of all the communities Waste management has become an issue of growing global concern as urban populations continue to increase and consumption patterns continue to rise. The health and environmental implications associated with unsafe garbage disposal are mounting. Most of the people in Kashmir are unaware about the results of what they are doing in the name of waste disposal. This may cause severe and inconvenient problems for human surroundings. This is need of the time to create awareness that only the disposal or dumping is not the solution or way to manage the generating waste. We need to devise strategies in order to manage and modify the waste products. Just dumping the waste in landfills may increase the threat of underground toxic activity. That’s why it’s time to aware people to save the environment, as well as, all the living entities on the earth. Today it is the right time to promote the proper management and treatment rather than disposal of waste in or on the ground surface. As the issue of improper handling of waste is gaining popularity across State. The more advanced the settlements, the more complex the waste management has become. People in state inclined towards the advertisement that is a reasonable and impactful step towards management of waste. But at current situation, the risk of negative impacts of solid waste has gone so high that just advertisement would be inadequate to make the people aware. Technological advancements like internet specially the social media can be a very useful platform to create awareness about managing these chronic problems in the society.
The present solid waste management is based on unplanned and haphazard service delivery mechanisms due to the absence of managerial and planning skills in the concerned people and the city government. No professional waste manager is working in the department in order to link various activities from generation to disposal through proper utilization of available sufficient resources. The existing collection is without proper route designing. The present transfer stations and disposal sites are not designed on a scientific basis due to the lack of technical knowhow in the officials of the Department. The Department has no plans to keep pace with a modern world. The elements of community participation are missing in the present solid waste management hierarchy of the department. It appears that the officials are lacking adequate training for future vision and insight in the specialized field of solid waste management. The need for waste management has long been ignored in our state despite our growing population and the incremental increase in waste production. However, our decision-makers would be advised to pay closer attention to this issue, especially since the costs associated with inadequate waste management are going to continue to escalate.
( The author was pursuing post doctoral research program at the schools of business and management at Jaipur National University Jaipur. Views are his own [email protected])
