No end to roadside garbage dumping in Dimapur

DIMAPUR — Despite the Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC) dispatching its garbage trucks every morning to collect waste from various points, in some populated localities, the waste piles up again as soon as the vehicles leave.  

These are common scenes in localities including the road stretches along Sub-urban Police Station, Don Bosco Provincial House and Signal Bosti, where residents and passersby have to endure the foul stench emanating from the refuse dumped on the roadsides.

A resident of Don Bosco Provincial House pointed out that though the DMC vehicles come every morning to collect waste, but the garbage area along the roadside is soon filled with waste by daytime.

He said dumping of waste along the roadside is giving a bad image to the locality and Dimapur city in general, particularly when guests from outside the state, including foreigners, frequently visit and stay at the provincial house.

He informed that they had approached the DMC earlier and the council took the initiative to send its garbage trucks on a daily basis as well as clear the clogged drains.

But during heavy rainfall, the drainage overflows and the dirty water enter their compounds, causing foul smell.

When asked if they have taken up any initiative, the resident replied that they cannot take up personal initiative as the stretch of land where garbage is dumped does not belong to them.

Even if they want to cover up the stretch or build a big dustbin there, they cannot go ahead since it is not their land, he said.

He informed that since there is no alternative or designated point to throw garbage, people have been dumping waste in the area for quite some time.

Challenges faced by Dimapur Municipal Council

Administrator of DMC Manpai Phom said that garbage dumped on the roadsides are not designated garbage disposal sites or collection points.

However, even if the municipal cleans a roadside garbage dumping site, over the course of time, the public start dumping waste in another roadside location.

Phom said that the DMC is also trying its best to have effective collection system in Dimapur, but at the moment the biggest challenge that the council faces is the limited time for daily garbage collection – from 5 am to 8 am – beyond which they cannot take up the work because of the traffic and ‘no entries’ in various points.

The administrator informed that at present DMC has 19 trucks and seven tractors for waste collection under the municipality.

“The instances of roadsides piled up with garbage and all these scenes indicate that door-to-door collection is needed but with the existing infrastructure, it is a big challenge on our part to effectively carry out this door to door collection system,” he said.

However, Phom informed that the council is also moving towards having an effective door-to-door waste collection system for Dimapur and, as a pilot project, they will be initiating door-to-door waste collection in Duncan Bosti and Riverbelt colony from December 1 onwards, where they will be introducing the smaller garbage collection trucks.

He expressed hope that the pilot project will be successful and replicated in other wards too.

Also read: Dimapur Municipal Council employees extend ultimatum till October 10; ‘no pay no work’ thereafter