Srinagar, Sep 14: The government on Monday admitted that the Achan dumping site continues to cast a shadow over Srinagar’s Swachhata campaign performance, identifying the long-standing waste management crisis as a major impediment to the summer capital’s bid for top cleanliness rankings.
Commissioner Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department (H&UDD), Mandeep Kour, speaking to media persons on the sidelines of the launch of the Swachhata Internship Programme at Amar Singh College here, said that the Swachhata goal cannot be achieved unless people start keeping their homes and society clean.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been talking about Swachhata for ten years, but how many among us have started taking steps in this regard? Unless we start it from home, nothing can change on the ground,” she said, urging people to take apt decisions and measures in this regard.
She added that the Swachhata Internship Programme was first started in Jammu on a pilot basis with the aim of creating awareness among students in this regard.
Talking about the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC), Kaur said just 3,000–4,000 sanitation workers and warriors could not make the entire Srinagar, with a population of over 16 lakh people, aware about Swachhata, as it would be a difficult task for them. “Therefore, the programme from the schools was aimed at creating awareness among the students to help make the society clean,” she added.
The Commissioner Secretary further said that tourists should not say that Jammu and Kashmir is very beautiful but dirty, emphasising that cleanliness was essential to complement the region’s natural beauty.
Asked about the rankings in the Swachhata campaign, Kour cited Achan as the main cause for the low ranking, saying that the site was the problem in Srinagar, where work has now started. “The project was conceived earlier, but the waste processing was not taken up, due to which the ranking of Srinagar witnessed a decline,” she said.
However, she added that Srinagar, compared to other cities, is clean, as the roads and streets are clean. “But the waste processing was not taken up, and thus it was an unmanageable problem which had no solutions. Now, the solution is there, and the waste processing has started to clean Achan. So, I hope Srinagar will rank in the top three in the next two years,” Kour added.
Meanwhile, SMC Commissioner Fazlul Haseeb, while giving details about the Internship Programme, said that under this programme, the government wants to train students regarding local segregation, bin segregation, door-to-door collection, and other things, as training students will have a large impact on society.
“We have started the programme on a pilot basis in 34 schools, and if it rolls out successfully, then we will increase the number of schools involved in the training,” Haseeb said.
He added that besides SMC, the partners in this campaign include the Directorate of School Education and the Mission Director, Swachh Bharat Mission.
