editorial
Gangtok has for long been a tourist town unique for its general cleanliness. Being the capital of a State with not much experience in garbage management, this was an impressive achievement. But Gangtok has been going through a sustained population boom and the capital is now a contiguous stretch of buildings from Tashi View Point to Ranipool. Urban planning rambles lost between being woefully inadequate to blissfully absent, and the one eyesore where this is most noticeable is in the crumbling waste management system of the town. Garbage management here would have collapsed many years ago had an AusAid programme not salvaged and resuscitated civic organisation for a few years. The aid agency is no longer around and garbage management has been on rapid decline ever since.
Hope rose with the municipalisation of Gangtok and some other towns in the State, but the promise of urban bodies remains to be realised. Hope is flickering again with the GMC councillors making frequent public appearances in cleanliness drives and overseeing jhora-cleaning operations in their respective jurisdictions. What is unfortunately missing, at least in the public initiatives and statements coming out of the GMC, is a reassuring signal that it understands the garbage management problems confounding Gangtok in particular and Sikkim in general. The priorities appear to be mixed up, with supporting initiatives gaining primacy over policy and planning measures. When councillors arrive at cleanliness drives, they contribute not with their sweeping skills but by underlining, with their presence, the need for public participation for such initiatives. Similarly, CCTV cameras at jhoras might work as strong deterrents against irresponsible littering, but can work best only if a well-oiled garbage management system was already in place. Garbage management, however, remains a challenged system in Gangtok and the funds invested in CCTVs could have been used more sensitively in providing better quality protective gear for the garbage handlers who travel in the GMC trucks every morning. The rubber gloves and masks issued to garbage handlers and sweepers wear out within a week and it is disturbing to see them handle all the filth with the flimsiest of protection.
The logistics of garbage management apart, one expects the urban body representatives to also deliver the State a coherent and sustainable garbage management policy. They should not just inherit and continue with the system passed on to it by the UD&HD. Because they are more accountable to the people, one hopes they will tweak this system, scratch that, replace it with something which is more in sync with the image that Sikkim aspires to. At present, waste management continues to be managed with disposal seen as the only option. The speed with which the dump at 32 Mile has been over-run, and the one at Marchak before that, should convince the new set responsible for urban management to realise that waste needs to be examined as part of a cycle of production-consumption-recovery, the last aspect of “recovery/ recycling” is the one which will ensure overall sustainability. Without it, new garbage dumping grounds will need to be found every few years. The 32 Mile land-fill [it is one irrespective of what anyone might claim otherwise] did flirt with composting for a short while, but the machinery and the prospects were lost to departmental disinterest. The GMC needs to approach this option afresh. Sikkim is committed to becoming an Organic State, and garbage management can be plugged into this environment-friendly commitment. Waste can be wealth, which has tremendous potential not only for generating livelihoods for the urban poor but can also enrich the earth through composting and recycling rather than spreading pollution as has been the case [recall the drive through the Marchak dump or visit the land-fill at 32 Mile if you feel otherwise]. Compost is only one part of recycling. The tons of plastic and other non-biodegradable waste can also be recycled profitably into ply-boards and other products which can become a niche and well-patronised industry. These are only stray ideas; fact remains that garbage management needs a rethink of a policy-shift scale and not just token displays and gimmickry.
Gangtok has for long been a tourist town unique for its general cleanliness. Being the capital of a State with not much experience in garbage management, this was an impressive achievement. But Gangtok has been going through a sustained population boom and the capital is now a contiguous stretch of buildings from Tashi View Point to Ranipool. Urban planning rambles lost between being woefully inadequate to blissfully absent, and the one eyesore where this is most noticeable is in the crumbling waste management system of the town. Garbage management here would have collapsed many years ago had an AusAid programme not salvaged and resuscitated civic organisation for a few years. The aid agency is no longer around and garbage management has been on rapid decline ever since.
Hope rose with the municipalisation of Gangtok and some other towns in the State, but the promise of urban bodies remains to be realised. Hope is flickering again with the GMC councillors making frequent public appearances in cleanliness drives and overseeing jhora-cleaning operations in their respective jurisdictions. What is unfortunately missing, at least in the public initiatives and statements coming out of the GMC, is a reassuring signal that it understands the garbage management problems confounding Gangtok in particular and Sikkim in general. The priorities appear to be mixed up, with supporting initiatives gaining primacy over policy and planning measures. When councillors arrive at cleanliness drives, they contribute not with their sweeping skills but by underlining, with their presence, the need for public participation for such initiatives. Similarly, CCTV cameras at jhoras might work as strong deterrents against irresponsible littering, but can work best only if a well-oiled garbage management system was already in place. Garbage management, however, remains a challenged system in Gangtok and the funds invested in CCTVs could have been used more sensitively in providing better quality protective gear for the garbage handlers who travel in the GMC trucks every morning. The rubber gloves and masks issued to garbage handlers and sweepers wear out within a week and it is disturbing to see them handle all the filth with the flimsiest of protection.
The logistics of garbage management apart, one expects the urban body representatives to also deliver the State a coherent and sustainable garbage management policy. They should not just inherit and continue with the system passed on to it by the UD&HD. Because they are more accountable to the people, one hopes they will tweak this system, scratch that, replace it with something which is more in sync with the image that Sikkim aspires to. At present, waste management continues to be managed with disposal seen as the only option. The speed with which the dump at 32 Mile has been over-run, and the one at Marchak before that, should convince the new set responsible for urban management to realise that waste needs to be examined as part of a cycle of production-consumption-recovery, the last aspect of “recovery/ recycling” is the one which will ensure overall sustainability. Without it, new garbage dumping grounds will need to be found every few years. The 32 Mile land-fill [it is one irrespective of what anyone might claim otherwise] did flirt with composting for a short while, but the machinery and the prospects were lost to departmental disinterest. The GMC needs to approach this option afresh. Sikkim is committed to becoming an Organic State, and garbage management can be plugged into this environment-friendly commitment. Waste can be wealth, which has tremendous potential not only for generating livelihoods for the urban poor but can also enrich the earth through composting and recycling rather than spreading pollution as has been the case [recall the drive through the Marchak dump or visit the land-fill at 32 Mile if you feel otherwise]. Compost is only one part of recycling. The tons of plastic and other non-biodegradable waste can also be recycled profitably into ply-boards and other products which can become a niche and well-patronised industry. These are only stray ideas; fact remains that garbage management needs a rethink of a policy-shift scale and not just token displays and gimmickry.
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