Saturday 14 July 2018

Swachh Bharat Mission in Uttarakhand... and Delhi's solid waste management!


Written by Anil Singh
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Day before yesterday, the Supreme Court severely criticised the LG of Delhi for not taking appropriate action on the issue of solid waste management. The Court told LG that the city is laden with mountains of garbage; and the situation is bad.

From the reports out there, it seems that the court was more harsh towards the LG than the Delhi Government. May be because the LG has the power to create policy and issue directions to authorities concerned under the provisions of Delhi Municipal Corporation Act on disposal of solid waste. So unless the LG makes a proper policy or issues directions to the municipal corporations, the garbage management situation in the city will remain the same. In fact, the court termed as ‘utopian’ (fairy-tale or unrealistic) the ‘state policy on solid waste management strategy’ which has been framed by the LG office.

So the court used unusually harsh words to criticised the institution (the LG of Delhi); and held it more responsible for the garbage dumps in Delhi.

This is an important point to note, because outside the court, we are made to see Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal as the problem creator, but many a times the reality might be entirely opposite.

That said, the Court also slapped fines on 10 states and two union territories for not filing their affidavits on their policies for solid waste management strategy.

Although I don't know whether Uttarakhand features among those fined; one thing is beyond doubt -- Uttarakhand is not managing its solid waste effectively either. More so, ever since Swachh Bharat Mission has been launched. Trash is either not collected or when collected, it is dumped in forests and barren lands. This is not solid waste management. How will any solid waste management take place when there is no significant increase in manpower, infrastructure required to accomplish that?

I have not seen any flagship mission in the past make fun of its objective, as Swachh Bharat Mission did. Who we're fooling... Ourselves? OR who is treating us no more than a bunch of fools! 

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