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| Dumping site at Hassanabad,Hunza |
Solid waste management is
a big concern for the developing countries; this is due to the lack of awareness
and absence of municipalities. The dilemma of solid waste disposal and
management in Gilgit-Baltistan is being tackled by City Administrations,
municipal committee and KADO-HEC (only in Hunza). Typically, solid waste
management (SWM) comes under the preview of Municipal Services and most of the municipality
as well as City Administrations neither have the technical competence, nor the
financial resources to provide this vital service on their own.
In Gilgit Baltistan, no
planned solid waste management system is available in any of the cities; also the
lack of awareness prevails among various stakeholders including general public,
shopkeepers and waste handlers, regarding segregation and reduction of waste at
source and available alternate options.
In Hunza the solid waste
management and disposal is done under the project of Karakorum Area Development
Organization (KADO) known as Hunza
Environmental committee (HEC). HEC is a sub agency of KADO. It is
officially formed in 1997 and working for sustainable and clean environment.
The main aim of HEC is a solid waste management in central Hunza with the motto
of KEEP HUNZA CLEAN.
The Administration of
District and Business community of Aliabad/Karimabad is sponsoring HEC. The
total users of HEC-SWM service are almost thousands in number, but due to
shortage of finance, staff and vehicle facility, it is difficult to increase
the number of users. Every month, the users have to submit fee which is
collected by recovery assistant of HEC. The total revenue generated from the
collection of fee is used for the maintenance of tractor, fuel and salaries of
environmental assistants and other staff members.
Before the emergence of
HEC, the local people openly dump their waste near the river area or
uncultivated land near their residential area. This practice has created
environmental concerns and issues in Hunza valley. The main problems were:
spread of epidemics, aesthetic pollution, water contamination, air pollution
and soil pollution due to improper solid waste management and disposal.
With the advancement of
technology and development, hundreds of people migrate to central Hunza from
different villages of Gojal Tehsil, lower Hunza and Nagar. This migration has
induced the population of central Hunza and thus a huge amount of solid waste
is also generated on large scale. It is a fact that the rate of generation of
solid waste in the urban society is increasing with the increase of population,
technological development and the improved life style of the people.
HEC has been working
since 1997, they took the responsibility of solid waste management in Central
Hunza and managed to collect 3292.93 kg/day (Rahman Posh 2000) of waste and
dispose it to allocated site near Ganish valley. Initially to accomplish the
task, HEC installed 150 waste bins along the road sides, public places,
hospitals, hotels, schools and markets. Also, 50 dustbins were installed in
different residential streets upon the request of a public. Due to lack of awareness,
people some time refuse to pay the fee and they sometimes damage the dustbins. There
are many other issues which were faced by HEC at village level, but they have
accepted the challenge of keeping the
Hunza clean.
Area
covered by HEC:
The areas covered by HEC
in central Hunza are as follow:
1.
Aliabad (schools, offices, banks, markets,
hotels and some houses)
2.
Dorkhand (market area and schools)
3.
Gareth and Shiraz (offices and markets)
4.
Altit and Mominabad (schools and markets)
5.
Karim Abad (schools, banks, hotels and
markets)
6.
Hyderabad (markets and institutions)
There are currently 1000
user who avail the service of HEC. To complete the job HEC team work 6 days a
week and sometimes work on Sunday, in a case of emergency. The total staff
members of HEC are 7 in number and only one tractor with trolley/container is available
for collecting and transportation of solid waste.
Problems
in collection and disposal of solid waste
Waste produced in central
Hunza is of great variety it constitute the waste from general stores.
Workshops, poultry shops, hospitals, clinics, bakery, government institutions,
schools and colleges. This waste is not collected separately as a result paper,
plastic, glass and other recyclable items cannot be used for money generation
purposes.
The vehicle used for
transportation of waste is not efficient and takes hours for collection and
disposal of solid waste at the site. The tractor is not suitable for waste
transportation because it does not meet the quality standards for SWM. The
numbers of dustbins at primary collection points are insufficient and some of
them are damaged. While collecting the waste in commercial area, offensive odor
from poultry and biodegradable waste makes the shopkeepers uncomfortable and
they start to yell at Environmental assistants. The waste disposal area in
hassanabad is not suitable for dumping because it pose many environmental and
health problems for dwellers of hassanabad.
Report of GB-EPA (2010)
In 2010, Gilgit-Baltistan
Environmental protection Agency published a survey report “Solid Waste Quantities and Characteristics in Seven Urban Centers of
Gilgit-Baltistan (GB)”, according to which:
·
The Hunza -Nagar Domestic Solid Waste
Generation Rate was around 5 metric tons per day
·
With 63% organic and 38% inorganic solid
waste.
·
The total Commercial Waste Generated in
Hunza-Nagar is10 metric tons.
·
And according to this report 6 Million
rupees were allocated for Hunza-Nagar district (2012-2013).
Concluding my article I
personally thanks KADO and Hunza environmental committee for their efforts to
keep Hunza clean and standing firm on their motto “Keep Hunza Clean” with
limited resource. I request the local administration of Hunza to allocate new
dumping area for waste disposal. Due to lack of machinery and vehicles the
working process is slow and inefficient, to cope this issue government should
provide a new waste compactor for residue collection. I appeal to CM Hafiz Ur Rahman
to pay attention at the solid waste problem in Hunza and issue orders for
establishing new municipal committee for Hunza.
The
contributor is a student of Environmental Sciences at COMSATS Institute of
Information Technology, Abbottabad. He can be reached via gomalhunzai@gmail.com. He tweet as @gomalhunzai and is writer of this blog.
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