Darjeeling: The Union government has approved a project proposal to recycle waste accumulated in dumping yards of two hill towns of Darjeeling and Kalimpong in West Bengal into utility products such as bricks and flower pots. Darjeeling MP Raju Bista, in a statement on Tuesday (March 21), said the project seeks to mechanise the landfills with advanced technologies such as segregation of legacy (accumulated) waste, recycling of plastic waste, utilisation of construction and demolition waste and processing of biodegradable waste.
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“The segregated waste will be processed further and converted into various utilities such as organic waste into vermicompost, plastic waste into flower pots and construction waste into bricks,” the BJP national spokesperson said.
He claimed mechanised waste segregation will minimise health hazards to the workers at the municipal landfill sites and increase the efficiency in segregation of waste.
Mr Bista said he had written to Environment Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupendra Yadav on January 30 seeking approval for the project proposal named ‘Integrated Scientific Solutions for Improving Legacy Municipal Solid Waste Management in the Indian Himalayan region’.
The project proposals for Darjeeling and Kalimpong municipalities were prepared by young Gorkha scientist Rakshak Kumar Acharya of the CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology at Palampur in Himachal Pradesh, the MP said.
Mr Bista said he reached out to the chairman of the two civic bodies to support the project and both responded positively.
Responding to Mr Bista’s letter, Yadav wrote to him on March 14, stating that the proposal was presented before the National Mission on Himalayan Studies (NMHS) and its steering committee approved a pre-feasibility study with one site demonstration (Darjeeling) in one year with a budget of Rs 1.49 crore.
“I am confident that the success of this project will encourage the central and state governments to implement the project across all municipalities in our Himalayan region,” he added.
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(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
