Suhail Bhat
Srinagar Mar 26: Mounds of unattended waste has piled up outside the waste treatment plant at Kashmir’s famed tourist resort Gulmarg owing to improper disposal.
An official said that the company, Gulmarg Development Authority has roped in to dispose of the waste lacks the technical competence to run the treatment plant. This incompetence of the company has badly upset the ecology of the resort as heaps of garbage have accumulated outside the plant. “Last year they issued the tenders to a company that did not even qualify in the technical bid,” a source privy to the details said.
A huge influx of tourists in the last four months caught the company on the wrong foot as it was unable to treat the amount of waste that the resort generated. “In last four months the Gulmarg produced a huge quantity of waste. The company failed to treat it and left it outside the plant,” an official said.
He said that the waste used to reach the plant in segregated form. “The biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste were collected and treated independently, but it is lying in a mixed form outside the plant,” he said.
The plant was barely functional in the last two years because of consecutive lockdowns. First, the plant was closed for several months because of the annulment of Article 370 in August 2019 and then due to COVID-19.
Gulmarg produces around 150 tonnes of garbage a month and presence of waste outside the treatment plant has veiled the entire area with a foul stink.
To treat the waste, a waste treatment plant was established with a capacity to process 2-Metric tons of biodegradable and 1-metric tonne non-biodegradable waste in a day. “The mechanical segregator in the plant processes plastic waste while as an organic waste composter converts food waste into compost. Unfortunately, the plant has been rendered ineffective due to official apathy,” an official said.
Gulmarg Development Authority (GDA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Inam-ul-Haq Sidiqui, told Excelsior that the waste generated this year was more than the bearing capacity of the plant. “More waste was generated this year due to the Khelo India program and huge tourist arrival,” he said.
He added that the waste will be cleared within a few days as Srinagar Municipal Corporation has agreed to dump it in the Achin site.
Asked about the technical incompetence of the company, he said: “We issued the contract to the lowest bidder. We did not have a better choice as the response was poor. We have issued new tenders and are hoping for the best.”
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