Bandipora, Jan 4: After a prolonged delay, the garbage dumping site on Wular lake’s banks in north Kashmir’s Bandipora is finally set to move to a new location where tonnes of waste will be dealt with scientifically.
Garbage disposal at the Zalwan site, on lake banks, has been taking place since 1962 and with the increase in population, it now receives tonnes of waste daily. At present, the Municipal Council collects garbage from 17 wards of the town area and dumps it at the site with minimal post-dumping treatment. Although the site had been slightly moved in 2020 and later fenced, it has still continued contributing to irreparable damage to the ecology of the lake and its nearby areas. It has also consumed a nearby stream, suffocating it under garbage, and is now encroaching upon farmers’ paddy fields. Furthermore, the site has become an eyesore for the local population and acts as a spoilsport for children playing in the nearby ground.
Even though the administration had promised over the years to shift the site, it had failed miserably thus far, even inviting the wrath of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which had also raised objections to installing a segregation plant worth Rs 6 crore at the site. On Monday, officials informed Greater Kashmir that they have achieved a breakthrough in shifting the site. The project has received approval and is out for tendering, worth Rs 1.98 crore.
When asked if this facility too would impact Wular Lake, officials assured that the garbage will be treated scientifically to minimise environmental impact. The new location, spanning 10 kanals, will treat garbage using scientific waste management methods, according to officials. The facility will include a plastic recycler for plastic waste and waste composting machines to treat dry and wet waste separately. It will also house an Animal Birth Control (ABC) facility to keep a check on the stray dog population. Officials also informed that bioremediation of biological waste will be conducted at the Wular bank to clear it out. “The scientific intervention will help us get rid of all the garbage which has accumulated there over the years,” Bandipora Municipal Council Executive Engineer Aijaz Ahmad told Greater Kashmir.
The 30 kanals of land owned by the department at the present site will be utilised to create a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) worth Rs 20 crore, for which officials said no permission was required. However, the STP is intended to treat domestic sewage reaching the facility via the town’s drainage network, for which the UEED will formulate a new DPR in consultation with the ULB department.
“Till the time the project is completed, which seems to take longer, the STP will treat water from Gader Kaul,” the officer said. The officials predicted the dumping site will move in the next fiscal or by ending 2026.