Srinagar: 450 metric tons of solid waste produced daily; all dumping cells full, say officials

SRINAGAR —With limited storage of dumping and treating the solid waste generated in Srinagar, the area is producing at least 1,62,000 metric tons of solid waste annually.

Official figures reveal that at least 450 metric tons of solid waste is being produced in Srinagar city on a daily basis.

Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) in its first draft for smart city proposal has stated that despite having 90 per cent of waste collection efficiency, it currently segregates zero per cent of waste from the sources.

In the proposal, it has also been stated that 60 per cent of the door-to-door collection of waste is being carried out by the SMC authorities and 47 per cent of the area is covered by storm water drainage system.

“There seems to be no authority that could monitor throwing of garbage on roads and water bodies,” Arshid Ahmad, one of the locals of Amira Kadal, said.

“The status of the Srinagar city mentioned in the smart city draft proposal disappointed not only me but thousands of local residents of Srinagar who want the concerned authorities to take major steps to overcome the issue,” said Arshid.

SMC Commissioner, Athar Aamir Khan, said, “As of now, the corporation is dealing with the existing waste of nearly 10 lakh metric tons present in the dumping site. We will start bio-mining the existing waste.”

“In the Achan dumping site, there is already nearly 10 lakh metric tons of waste of previous years and the SMC is planning to start bio-mining of that existing solid waste,” Khan said.

On asking about the waste being generated on a daily basis, the Commissioner said that the department is working on the safe disposal of the waste. “It is easy to process the waste that is segregated from the source and we are working on that mechanism,” he said.

Khan said that SMC has started door-to-door collection of waste in four administrative wards. “In the coming couple of months, we are moving to other wards too. In this process, the fresh waste will be taken care of,” he said. (KNO)