Solid waste management in developed countries is exceedingly efficient because it is the requirement of ecological purity and non pollution of air. Its management is on highly scientific basis including the machinery put into service. Solid waste management has three main components, collection, transportation and disposal. In most of the developing countries including ours, municipalities and environmental agencies are paying full attention towards upgrading the system. It is good news that the Urban Local Bodies and Urban Development has succeeded in securing hefty amount of Rs. 6952.70 lakh and Rs 9000.00 lakh for Jammu and Srinagar respectively in a record time of 3 months for the purpose of establishing modern solid waste disposal unit. This matter had been hanging fire with the State authorities for five years in the past without any sign of achievement in sight. While appreciating the effort, we expect the Department to implement the plan expeditiously and without wasting time. We understand that good deal of spade work has been done by the department and all aspects of the project have been taken into account.
Primarily, it is the collection part of the solid waste and its separation that are of much importance. Old Jammu city has narrow lanes and by-lanes and motorised transport cannot ply. Therefore some mechanism has to be devised to overcome the difficulty. The requirements of the equipment for the waste collection, storage and transportation have been worked out on the basis of projected population at the end of design year of 5 years. If everything goes according to the plan, we should expect Jammu city to be much cleaner than what it is today. NGOs/Equipment friendly agencies have appreciated this initiative particularly in context to Jammu City which generates around 250 MT of solid waste every day. After providing Jammu Municipal Corporation with the facility, the Government will need to turn its attention to the towns as well and equip Town Area Committees with identical facility for disposal of solid waste.