Kohima youth seek practical sanitation steps for Smart City project

Dimapur, Aug. 23 (EMN): Youth organisations in Kohima have suggested to the Kohima Smart City and Green Team Kohima to focus on raising awareness on sanitation keeping in mind the need to take baby steps, which are practical and could generate maximum impact.

A press release from Kohima Smart City (team) on Friday informed that the suggestion was made during a meeting with five key youth and student organisations based in and around Kohima town on August 22 at Angami Students’ Union office.

Representatives from Angami Youth Organisation (AYO), Angami Students’ Union (ASU), Kohima Village Students’ Union (KVSU) and the Kohima Baptist Youth Fellowship (KBYF) shared their concerns and suggestions towards a cleaner and smarter Kohima, it stated.

“Some members, while appreciating the initiative of the ASU where car bins were distributed to the taxis in town, suggested that the ASU can take advantage of their association with ANTA and request the ANTA and bus union (sic) to clean and maintain their respective bus and taxi stands,” it stated.

The KVSU shared the need for more dustbins and machinery for garbage collection, suggesting that the Kohima Municipal Council may consider procuring more machinery by raising the sanitation tax if necessary.

The union also raised the issue of waste management citing the growing quantity of e-waste, which could become unmanageable in a few years if not addressed today. “They opined that policies and orders are very often issued without properly studying the ground reality and proper modalities which result in roadblocks when it comes to actual implementation.

“The issue of plastic ban, its implementation and the use of alternatives to plastic was raised vis a vis the fear of a syndicate system which will result in monopoly of the market and its implications. They also suggested that to encourage environment consciousness, plant saplings can be gifted to guests/ special invitees during programmes,” it stated.

The AYO maintained that modalities should be set in place before the plastic ban order comes into force so that it could be implemented successfully.

“The KBYF agreed that we need smart citizens to have a smart city. And here, the need for citizens to have a sense of belonging was reiterated for which awareness creation is necessary,” it informed.

After the deliberations, the organisations agreed to: dedicate five minutes for showing slides/clips/promos on plastic pollution and environmental issues in all of their programmes; and make a conscious effort to avoid all single-use plastic products in all the programmes.

The Joint CEO of Kohima Smart City pointed out that the youth and students constitute the largest chunk of the population and therefore the participating organisations can make the biggest impact.