SAMANVAY – 23 Workshop On “Sensitization and Capacity Building on Solid Waste Management” Held
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Shimla, March 04 – Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board conducted one day workshop, SAMANVAY – 23, on “Sensitization and Capacity Building on Solid Waste Management” at HIPA Fairlawn Shimla on 4th March 2023. The training was attended by elected/ nominated representatives, executive officers, secretaries and other officers/officials of urban local bodies (ULBs) of Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh.
Apoorv Devgan (IAS) Member Secretary, Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board started with the initiative of a comic book namely “Ward Member Meenu ka Safai Abhiyan” published by the State Board. He said the mascot ward member Meenu is basically representing the elected representative of an ideal ULB and is the torch-bearer of right kind of waste management practices. He further said that disposal of domestic hazardous waste is a problematic area for our State as anti-biotic drugs are carelessly being disposed into the river streams, thus posing threat to human health and environment. He further reminded that basic duties of the State Board is to regulate the environmental laws and prosecute the violators. Nevertheless, the State Board has taken a proactive role of working together with ULBs and augmenting the capacity building of human resources of our local bodies so that a better compliance of regulation is achieved. He further opined that technical experts, who have come today to guide us and demonstrated the successful stories however onus lies on the representatives of ULBs to find out the best strategy suiting their climatic and cultural scenario.
Manmohan Sharma (IAS), Director Urban Development, GoHP graced the occasion as the chief guest and guided the participants on various important issues pertaining to effective waste management. He further said that better implementation of Solid Waste Management Rules is expected from many urban local body of Shimla District as few of them are lagging behind in comparison to ULBs of other districts of the State except MC Shimla. He further said that the State has been pioneer in effective management of plastic waste in the Country and won several accolades. Further, he stressed upon the need to establish the same standard in overall implementation of solid waste management rules as well. He further informed that there are some perceived gaps while implementing SWM Rules 2016 in few ULBs, which need immediate attention & action from all the participants present in the workshop.
Rajender Chauhan, Project Officer, Urban Development Department highlighted the roles and responsibilities of waste generators and urban local bodies and further identified the gaps in effective implementation of Solid Waste Management Rules. He further said there is huge gaps in waste generation, processing and final disposal of wastes, which needs to be bridged immediately. He further stressed upon the need of source segregation right from household level till the final disposal. He further informed that Worthy Chief Secretary, Himachal Pradesh shall personally appear before the Hon’ble NGT on 16th March 2023 and shall report compliance of this Rules by the State of Himachal Pradesh
Sh. Siddhartha Singh, representative from Centre for Science & Environment (CSE) – a New Delhi based NGO stressed upon the need of behaviour change communication (BCC) in shaping the overall waste management strategy and introduced more robust IEC materials based strategies. The main issue pertaining to effective waste management remains the source segregation and bringing about the behavioural change and more awareness of the waste generators. He further shared best practices in solid waste management in India and explained four triggers of BCC namely shame, fear, disgust and reward, which are required to align our strategies and design of IEC strategies accordingly.
Sh. Pradeep Sangwan, the founder and promoter of Healing Himalayas Foundation, who has taken over the onerous task of cleaning out the trash from the Himalayas and shared his experiences of waste management in Himachal Pradesh. Shri Sangwan has presented a decentralised eco-system of material recovery facility (MRF) in the higher reaches of the State and explained his first replicable model of Raksham Panchayat of Himachal Pradesh. He shared his experiences to clean out the waste generated as a result of our mindless adventure schedules in upper Himalayas. In order to preserve the pristine beauty of the Himalayas, Mr. Sangwan and his team have planned several new initiatives to clean Himalayas.
Chandan Kumar Singh, Environmental Engineer of the State Board presented the compliance status vis-a-vis SWM Rules 2016 of various NGT directions and environmental compensation regime. He further gave away concluding remarks and vote of thanks to the chair and participants.
