GUWAHATI, April 11 - A one-day State-level workshop on �Municipal Solid Waste Management� was organised by the State Mission Directorate, Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), Assam, at the Assam Administrative Staff College, Khanapara, here today.
Chairpersons, vice chairpersons, sanitary engineers and engineers of urban local bodies (ULBs) from across Assam participated in the workshop.
The workshop on solid waste management was aimed at reaching out to the ULBs to capacitate them in adopting cost-effective ways of solid waste management.
Solid waste management expert Dr Pradip Baishya from Assam Engineering College, Guwahati, attended the event as a resource person in both the technical sessions along with the open discussions on the workshop.
A cost-effective �onsite drum composting� model was demonstrated in the workshop which can efficiently enable the ULBs in mitigating the grimed pattern of handling solid waste.
Emphasis was given on understanding duties of waste generators as per the Municipal Solid Waste Management and Handling Rule 2016, which states that it is mandatory to do segregation at source and onsite waste treatment for bulk solid waste generators as many establishments like hotels, restaurants, shopping complexes, residential associations with an area of 5,000 square metres, generate bulk solid waste per day without treating it on site.
Door-to-door waste collection is still not prominent in the towns although it is clearly mentioned in the Municipal Solid Waste (Management & Handling) Rules 2000.
So, all the ULBs were asked to form Swachhata Samitis in their respective towns.
Model bylaws of Swachhata Samiti have been drafted and circulated among the town committees as well to constitute the society. The workshop disseminated information about methods and strategies on solid waste management in coherence with segregation of wastes at source to generate resources.
The technical sessions were followed by an interactive discussion where various concerns of ULB officials in regard to the implementation of the Swachh Bharat Mission were answered by Additional Chief Secretary (Urban Development Department) MGVK Bhanu, and State Mission Director of Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), Ghanshyam Dass, along with fellow technical officials and domain experts of Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) Assam.
