All big and small cities in the country have authorized dumping sites of garbage and refuse which is treated along scientific methods in a way that these cannot cause any pollution tot eh environment. The sites for dumping are selected after great care and obviously away from the city peripheries so as the air and water pollution is avoided. The normal practice is that the permission of the Environmental Department is necessary for making a selection of a dumping site.
Jammu Municipal Corporation and Sewage Treatment Plants of Urban Environment Engineering Department near River Tawi don’t have mandatory clearance from Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Board and both these agencies have been openly flouting relevant provisions of environmental laws. Thus, if the Government agencies itself are flouting the pollution control laws, what can be the fate of that town or city. The sites under reference are close to the bank of river Tawi. Jammuites consider Tawi a sacred river and even today people with faith come to pray at its bank considering the river the daughter of the Sun. But this religious and cultural tag notwithstanding, dumping site by the river bank demonstrates our moral bankruptcy. According to expert opinion when garbage and litter remain dumped at some place for a long time, the underground water is polluted. And when the site is close to the river bank, the river water gets polluted in a very short time. Both of these dumping agencies have not so far obtained permission from the Pollution Control Department for using the site for dumping. We are confident that if they approach the Department, they will not be granted permission. It is obvious keeping the environment of the site in view. We are told that the Municipal Corporation has been trying to obtain a dumping site somewhere in Ban Talab area but since the JDA intends to raise a residential colony there , and a private residential colony has already come up, there is little likelihood that any site will be allowed by the Environment and Pollution Control authority.
Since permission for running the present dumping site is not going to happen it becomes imperative for both the agencies the Municipal Corporation and Urban Environment Engineering Department to hunt for a proper site and regularize the dumping and treatment of garbage as is done in any civilized city. It should be mentioned that Court Commissioners appointed by Division Bench of State High Court following their visit to STPs and dumping site of JMC had stressed upon the need of shifting the open dumping site adjacent to River Tawi immediately as the same is causing pollution. They pointed out another flaw in the present dumping site. Being close to the airfield, there is every danger that the birds swarming on to the dumped martial for scavenging could become a source of threat to the airplanes during takeoff or landing.
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