Minister for Social Welfare, Sakeena Itoo, today informed the House that the Municipal Committee Dooru /Verinag distributes twin household dustbins among all households to segregate waste at the source, along with installation of twin bins in commercial areas for segregated collection of garbage in twin towns of Anantnag district.
The Minister was replying on behalf of Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, to a question raised by G A Mir in the Legislative Assembly.
The Minister said that for collection of waste from the households and commercial establishments, 08 Hoppers are deployed regularly and the waste is subsequently transported to the Material Recovery Facility Plant at Verinag, where it is further segregated into dry waste and wet waste separately. The dry waste is processed in the MRF center which is then recycled and sold out, while the wet waste is put into the compost pits for generation of organic compost.
The Minister informed that 8 hoppers, 25 tri-cycles and one truck laden with sucker have been procured for Dooru and Verinag while as the department intends to procure machinery including weight bridge, baling machine and shredder for improvement in sanitation and waste management segregation.
The Minister, while replying to a supplementary, stated that three Solid Waste Management Plants of 4 TPD each have been approved for MC Dooru-Verinag. Besides, one Solid Waste Management Plant of 4 TPD is functional at Veering where the dry waste is processed at MRF facility and the wet waste is processed through pit composting method, she added.
She said that the Municipal Committee is committed towards ensuring efficient waste management practices through continuous improvements in segregation methods. Efforts are being made to enhance citizen participation, upgrade infrastructure and adopt innovative solutions for waste processing, she added.
The Minister further said that under SBM (U) scientific processing of the Municipal Solid Waste in the small and medium Towns of J&K has been undertaken. She said that the establishment of 78 Solid Waste Management centers (WMCs)/Material recovery Facility (MRF) along with compost pits has been approved. She added that construction work in 52 locations has been undertaken, of which, 33 Waste Management Centers/MRFs and 30 compost pits have been completed, while the work in 19 more sites of WMCs/MRF and 22 compost pits is under progress.
Further, she informed that bio-remediation of legacy waste at the dumping sites like Bhagwati Nagar, Kathua, Samba, Udhampur, Tral, Bijbehara, Pahalgam, Anantnag and Tangmarg has been completed and 3.88 lakh MT legacy waste has been bio-remediated. She apprised that the work has been awarded for bio-remediation of 6.16 lakh MT legacy waste at Kot Bhalwal by JMC, 2.98 lakh MT by DULBK and 1.20 lakh MT for 7 ULBs of DULBJ. Besides, the tender has been floated for bio-remediation of 11.00 lakh MT legacy waste at Achan, Srinagar, she added.
Regarding housing facilities, the Minister said that PMAY-Urban 2.0 has been launched in September 2024 to address the housing needs of EWS/LIG and MIG income categories by providing financial assistance for construction/purchase of houses through different verticals of the scheme in the next 5 years.
She informed that Rs 907.68 lakh have been released to the beneficiaries for construction of houses since 2018 in Dooru and Verinag. Out of 747 sanctioned houses, 505 houses have been completed while 161 are under-construction as per the CS&MC data of MoHUA Government of India, she added.
