G
UWAHATI: Deepor Beel has turned from a pristine wetland to a wasteland. The city continues to dump municipal waste close to the water body
located on the outskirts despite a clear directive from the environment and forest ministry to the state government in 2006, urging it to stop dumping garbage near the Beel.
The directive, issued on October 4, 2006, by then director-general of forests J C Kala to Assam chief secretary S Kaliban, categorically asked the authorities to stop dumping waste matter near the wetland. The letter stated, "It is a very serious issue which needs immediate intervention at your level. May I request to immediately direct the authorities to stop dumping of wastes in the wetland and ensure that cleaning-up work of wetland is immediately taken up under the supervision of experts."
Ironically, a source in the forest department said dumping of municipal waste continued even after the instruction issued by the ministry about three years ago, putting the Ramsar Site wetland under great ecological risk. "Dumping garbage in a haphazard manner has come to such a pass that municipal waste has started spilling out of the wetland after the recent rains which left a swathe of Deepor Beel's surrounding areas flooded," the source said.
The 2006 directive stated that politician and environmentalist Maneka Gandhi had brought Deepor Beel's deplorable condition to the ministry's notice. She had said the wetland was being used for dumping solid waste and medical refuse by municipal authorities. The Guwahati Muncipal Corporation (GMC) had conceded that haphazard dumping of garbage and incompletion of a protective embankment at the dumping site has resulted in a spillover of solid wastes.
"The spillover is owing to the non-completion of an embankment to stop garbage from getting washed away to Deepor Beel. The embankment was supposed to be completed last year. Unfortunately, a portion of the embankment is still unfinished. Once the work is done, the problem of spillover will be solved," S Thiek, additional commissioner of GMC, said last week.
UWAHATI: Deepor Beel has turned from a pristine wetland to a wasteland. The city continues to dump municipal waste close to the water body
located on the outskirts despite a clear directive from the environment and forest ministry to the state government in 2006, urging it to stop dumping garbage near the Beel.
The directive, issued on October 4, 2006, by then director-general of forests J C Kala to Assam chief secretary S Kaliban, categorically asked the authorities to stop dumping waste matter near the wetland. The letter stated, "It is a very serious issue which needs immediate intervention at your level. May I request to immediately direct the authorities to stop dumping of wastes in the wetland and ensure that cleaning-up work of wetland is immediately taken up under the supervision of experts."
Ironically, a source in the forest department said dumping of municipal waste continued even after the instruction issued by the ministry about three years ago, putting the Ramsar Site wetland under great ecological risk. "Dumping garbage in a haphazard manner has come to such a pass that municipal waste has started spilling out of the wetland after the recent rains which left a swathe of Deepor Beel's surrounding areas flooded," the source said.
The 2006 directive stated that politician and environmentalist Maneka Gandhi had brought Deepor Beel's deplorable condition to the ministry's notice. She had said the wetland was being used for dumping solid waste and medical refuse by municipal authorities. The Guwahati Muncipal Corporation (GMC) had conceded that haphazard dumping of garbage and incompletion of a protective embankment at the dumping site has resulted in a spillover of solid wastes.
"The spillover is owing to the non-completion of an embankment to stop garbage from getting washed away to Deepor Beel. The embankment was supposed to be completed last year. Unfortunately, a portion of the embankment is still unfinished. Once the work is done, the problem of spillover will be solved," S Thiek, additional commissioner of GMC, said last week.
0 comments:
Post a Comment