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Here’s a guide for the local bodies on how to address the challenge of solid waste management. The National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) has come out with a set of recommendations that can empower gram panchayats to effectively deal with waste.
The step-by-step guide has asked the panchayats to ban the use of use-and-throw carry bags and promote reusable cloth bags.
It called for penalties on households and shopkeepers who are found violating the local body norms.
The institute has prepared a model by-law for Gram Panchayats to customise. This explains all the rules that GPs must adopt so as to put in place a functional waste management system.
It asked the panchayats to evolve a mechanism to recover dues for solid waste management service as part of House Tax.
“Repeated violations, and negligence must be viewed seriously,” it said.
Case studies
The institute conducted a series of case studies across States in India in order to devise practical models of solid waste management (SWM) for the village level local bodies.
“Panchayat functionaries should conduct periodical inspections to ensure community members, shopkeepers and other stakeholders keep their locality clean,” the NIRDPR study has said.
States such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and West Bengal, along with a few panchayats in Gujarat and Chhattisgarh have a few solid waste management units that are being managed admirably well.
P Siva Ram, Head, and R Ramesh, Associate Professor, Centre for Rural Infrastructure at the NIRDPR, studied the best practices and interviewed the people behind the success in these panchayats and documented the best practices.
“Waste management is more a socio-psychological problem, rather than being technology or facility-related. Behavioural changes can help,” R Ramesh said.
“Indiscriminate disposal of waste pollutes land, contaminates water, and renders villages and towns unsightly and unlivable. This is increasingly becoming a major problem as the waste generated is not segregated at the source while collection,” he said.
The study wanted the Panchayat functionaries to conduct periodical inspections to ensure community members, shopkeepers and other stakeholders keep their locality clean.
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