Doubts raised about success of Swachh Bharat in Bhopal

PM Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat campaign is unlikely to succeed in Bhopal, an environment expert said, questioning the city civic body’s competence in handling waste disposal in a scientific manner.

Updated on: Oct 2, 2014, 22:42:11 IST

Hindustan Times | By Neeraj Santoshi, Bhopal

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat or clean India campaign is unlikely to succeed in Bhopal, an environment expert said on Friday, questioning the city civic body’s competence in handling waste disposal in a scientific manner.

The expert has raised misgivings about the success of the filth-free drive, saying it would remain a symbolic and cosmetic campaign, unless the civic body adopts scientific methods to manage the city’s solid waste.

"The system to dispose of municipal solid waste is not scientific at present," said environmentalist Subash Pandey.

"There is no segregation of the garbage at the source into biodegradable and non-biodegradable."

Bhopal generates more than 750mt of solid waste daily, a major part of which is transported by the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) to the Bhanpur landfill site—Bhopal's only dumping site.

In 2013, Pandey, concerned by the pollution created as a result of generation of huge quantity of municipal solid waste and poor disposal, had filed a case with the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

Pandey, in his complaint had said the Bhanpur dumping site was being illegally used for the last 33 years without any authorisation.

More than 250 tonne of solid waste is being dumped on a daily basis at the site without any segregation, he had said.

BMC officials said once the new landfill at Adampur is developed, waste disposal would be streamlined.

"The delay in shifting is because government has to first ensure the rehabilitation of over 100 families at Adampur, who would get displaced because of the project," said BMC health officer and sanitation in-charge SP Srivastava.

The green panel had rapped three states including Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan for poor municipal solid waste management.

The green panel had slammed the civic body for its failure to shift the dumping site to a new landfill site.

The residents around the landfill site have been agitating for years demanding that the landfill site is shifted as it endangers their health and remains a source of infections and foul smell.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neeraj Santoshi
Neeraj Santoshi is the Chief of Bureau for Hindustan Times in Uttarakhand, where he leads the state reporting team while covering government, politics, environment, wildlife, Uttarakhand High Court, and issues shaping the Himalayan region. With more than two decades in journalism across conflict zones, he has covered politically sensitive regions and environmentally fragile landscapes, and focused on stories that combine public interest with in-depth storytelling. An alumnus of Pune University with a Master’s in Communication Studies, he has reported extensively from Jammu & Kashmir (2003-2010), Madhya Pradesh (2010 to 2018 ) and Uttarakhand (Since 2018), covering subjects ranging from insurgency, elections and governance to wildlife conservation, mining, climate change, agriculture, human rights and social justice. He has covered politics and legislative assemblies of both Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh over more than a decade. Before taking over as Chief of Bureau in Uttarakhand, he served as Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times in Madhya Pradesh and earlier reported for both Hindustan Times and The Indian Express in Jammu & Kashmir, where he covered state politics, environment and insurgency-related developments. Over the years, his stories have focused on environmental degradation, wildlife, illegal mining, governance and the changing social fabric of Himalayan states and Central India. He is particularly interested in long-form explanatory journalism, and stories that explore the intersection of ecology, conservation, governance and society. Outside the newsroom, Neeraj enjoys reading widely on neuroscience, consciousness studies, Artificial Intelligence and quantum physics, with a special interest in Kashmiri Tantric Shaivist traditions. He is also passionate about wildlife, mountaineering and the Himalayas, interests that continue to inform his reporting and deepen his understanding of the region he covers.Read More

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