Shopian, a town in South Kashmir is known for good quality of apples, almonds and a variety of fruits. It has the historic significance as it was an important station on the old Mughal Road. Its setting is very natural and picturesque and we expect that this town will become attractive with the passage of time owing to development and road connectivity etc. But the picture it presents today is dismal and disappointing. The bus stand has become the garbage pit where all the dirt and filth of the town is deposited. It gives foul smell and pollutes the air so as to create health hazard for the residents of the town. The Municipal Committee of the town appears to have become dysfunctional for reasons not known to us. It is regrettable that the Municipal Committee cannot maintain even a small town’s ecology. The shopkeepers say there is no space to deposit the litter and refuse and as such they were told by the municipal authorities to dump it at the bus stand.
Actually, the bus stand has not been made usable because the bus drivers usually park the buses on the side of the road leaving the bus stand space open for dumping filth and garbage. The traffic and district authorities should first of all prohibit parking of buses and trucks by the side of the road. There should be strict orders that parking on the roadside would mean a heavy fine which should be imposed on the defaulters and realized from them. Once the drivers and bus owners come to know that parking on the road side implies heavy fine they will desist from parking on the roadside and will use the bus stand.
By and large most of the towns in the State that have Municipal or Town Area Committee are afflicted with the problem of disposal of garbage and waste. Disposal of waste is becoming more and more important in view of the need for cleaner environment and clean ecology as per the rules. Shopian is no exception in Kashmir valley. The need of the hour is that the Municipal/Town Area Committees all over the State need to be given a shake up so that its members realize that they have some responsibilities to perform. They should be made answerable to authorities or to the court of the people. A uniform policy of maintaining the cleanliness of a town should be made the responsibility of somebody failing which the Municipal workers find nobody monitoring their activities. This syndrome must be broken.