Urban Development through JNNURM

♤ “The aim is to encourage reforms and fast track planned development of identified cities. Focus is to be on efficiency in urban infrastructure and service delivery mechanisms, community participation, and accountability of ULBs/ Parastatal agencies towards citizens”.

♤ The duration of the mission is seven years starting from 2005-06with initially 13 towns.

Recommendations / solutions for Solid Waste Management in IHR

The “development” in the present context has become unsustainable. An integrated approach is, therefore, necessary to protect the environment and achieve required economic development at the same time. Advance planning based on timely and reliable data has become crucial for sustainable growth of hill towns.

1. Guidelines prohibiting indiscriminate disposal of garbage, particularly the non-degradable waste.

2. Preventive and management steps for solid waste management at the point of origin itself.

3. Documentation about the varying composition of waste from the hill towns to expedition tops.

4. Promotion of techniques such as conversion of biodegradable waste into biocompost, or vermicompost in place of land filling, open dumping or burning.

5. The four 'R’s principle’ - Refuse waste prone commodities, Reuse discarded commodities for other uses, Reduce through segregation into categories—biodegradable and non-biodegradable at household/ individual level, and Re-cycling once fully used or completely unusable commodities/items.

6. Good quality potable water, available at various locations in hill towns so that people can fill their bottles, on payment basis.

7. Awareness and capacity building of the stakeholders.

8. Best international experiences & practices followed in regard to preservation of surroundings and prevention of littering in eco-sensitive places, [e.g., Alaska, Gan-gotri/Leh region, Nepal and China] should be examined and appropriately adopted.

9. Need support and innovative thinking on different aspects, ranging from traditional architectural practices, local water management and diverse systems of sewage and garbage management.

10. There is a need to motivate residents to switch over to a more scientific waste disposal system in a participatory manner.