Excelsior Correspondent
SUNDERBANI, Apr 22 : 800 kgs of Vermi-Compost (organic manure) prepared from municipal waste at Solid Waste Management (Vermi- Composting) Project at Thandapani, Sunderbani of district Rajouri was put on sale for the general public as District Development Commissioner, Saugat Biswas formally inaugurated the project today.
The fully functional project is a first of its kind in the State of J&K which involves the stabilization of organic solid waste through earthworm consumption for the conversion of organic material to worm castings.
The project at village Thandapani in district Rajouri was commenced in February 2008 and was handed over to the Municipal Committee Sunderbani in June 2010. However it remained non-functional till it was inspected by Saugat Biswas, District Development Commissioner, Rajouri in July 2012. Soon after, meetings were conducted on site and bottlenecks which were hampering the project were removed by the team constituted by the DDC, under the supervision of the SDM, Nowshera, Rajinder Khajuria. Within months the project was made functional. Provision of electricity and water supply was made for the project by the DDC.
Speaking on the occasion, Saugat Biswas informed that the project for the Solid Waste Management of Rajouri town was still on hold due to environmental clearance of the selected site and resistance from some local villagers.
After the success of vermi-composting project at Sunderbani (Rajouri); vermi-composting project for Rajouri, has been finalised to be set up at Kesar Gala near village Balli, tehsil Kalakot, under the Special Task Force (STF), with eco-friendly method for the disposal of municipal waste/garbage, he informed.
Besides DDC Rajouri, the function was also attended by Dr Rajinder Khajuria, Sub Divisional Magistrate Nowshera, Davinder Paul Tehsildar, Sunderbani, Md. Rafiq, Tehsildar Nowshera, Tehsildar Kalakote, Executive officer Sunderbani Municipality and other officers from different Deptts; Sarpanchs and Panchs of Rajouri Kalakot and Sunderbani.