GMC to install ppy-disposal machines

Guwahati ranked 70th in Swachh Survekshan 2018

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Jan 20: Plastic used in disposable sanitary pkins is not bio-degradable and as such it leads to health and environmental hazards, making sanitary disposal more complicated in Guwahati as it is elsewhere in the country. However, there are ways to get rid of the mece and the GMC is going to adopt one such way.

Talking to this reporter, a GMC official said: “A decision has been taken to install sanitary ppy-disposal machines in all colleges, girls’ hostels and other places in the city where women stay. This will go a long way in getting rid of the mece.”    

According to the Municipal Solid Waste (Magement and Handling) Rules, 2000, household waste like soiled pkins, diapers, condoms and blood-soaked cotton are disposed of after segregation into biodegradable and non-biodegradable components. However, the Bio-Medical Waste (Magement and Handling) Rules, 1998 says that bio-medical waste like items contamited with blood and body fluids, including cotton, dressings, soiled plaster casts, lines and bedding should be incinerated or microwaved to destroy pathogens.

Lack of awareness on the part of common people in rural and urban Assam and lack of appropriate action from those at the helm of affairs in the government essentially complicated the mece. Being one of the smart cities in the country and vying for a top berth in the Survekshan 2018 competition, it is high time Guwahati implemented state-of-the-art sanitary pkin disposal systems in the city. Similar systems should also be adopted in elsewhere in the State.   

Meanwhile, the GMC and the denizens of Guwahati have reasons to celebrate with Guwahati being ranked 70th till Thursday in the Swachh Survekshan 2018 competition being held at all-India level. This is a huge surge for the metropolitan city that was ranked 134th in the Swachh Survekshan 2017.

With the ranking being changed on a daily basis, it is imperative on the part of the civic body and its citizens to keep the city clean.  According to GMC sources, a central team has arrived in the city to monitor cleanliness in the city. The team is monitoring the city by visiting is various areas.  “The more we climb up the Swachh Survekshan ranking the more the funds keep coming to us,” the official said, and added: “Fund is being pumped in by the organizer of the competition – Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.”

Giving details as to how the denizens of the city can help GMC in keeping the city clean, the official said: “As and when they notice garbage in their locality they can help us, rather themselves, just by taking a sp of the garbage and uploading the picture in the Swachh Survekshan App that’s available in Google play store. Our personnel will rush to the spot and get the garbage disposed of. They can also send a smiling picture if the cleaning is proper or a frowning one in the event of the job not being accomplished properly. This also has much to do with credit and as such with ranking. We’re visiting various wards in our jurisdiction and holding regular meetings with NGOs, sanitary supervisors and other stakeholders. Closed toilets in petrol depots that were closed earlier in the city have been reopened with our intervention.  The number of toilets has also been increased.”  

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