Call it sheer ignorance or poor civic sense or even a lack of monitoring from the relevant offices, in Gyalpoizhing and Lingmithang, despite a proper dumping yard, one can see wastes spilling over on the road leading to the disposal site at Tshokor. Residents claim that despite the yard being only half-filled, the garbage truck driver dumps the wastes on the road at the entrance of the disposal site which is located a few kilometres from Gyalpoizhing.
The disposal site at Tshokor is located a few meters from the Gyalpoizhing and Kurizam primary national highway. Every week, about five truckloads of solid wastes from Gyalpoizhing and Lingmithang are being dumped at the site.
Today as the road leading to the disposal site is completely blocked with garbage, wastes can be seen dumped everywhere along the road. This has become an eyesore for the residents. They fear serious wastes related issues if it is not attended to at the earliest.
“Sometimes when we visit the waste disposal site, we see that the solid wastes are not properly dumped in the pit. It is littered everywhere along the road. This practice will pollute our environment as well as cause sickness to the people. We don’t know whom to report the issue to,” said Thinley, a resident of Gyalpoizhing.
He also said there is a lack of monitoring from the municipality since the driver dumps the waste everywhere at the site.
“There is a large pit constructed at Tshokor to dump the solid wastes. The pit is not full yet but garbage is dumped along the road. During summer and windy days, the litters reach the national highway. We have also faced similar challenges in the past causing inconvenience to the public. I don’t know why the driver can’t dump it properly inside the pit,” added Dorji, another resident of Gyalpoizhing.
Meanwhile, with just a single garbage truck from the municipality collecting wastes at Lingmithang, people are compelled to burn and dump their garbage nearby their residences when the vehicle breaks down. For the residents of Gyalpoizhing, the Kurichu Hydropower plant collects their wastes. But the municipality office is responsible to monitor and manage wastes at the disposal site.
However, an official from the municipality claimed that there is proper monitoring of wastes at the disposal site. Although there is no sight of such monitoring in places, the official said that they hire a machine to move the waste to the pit when the road is filled with litter.
Currently, more than three thousand individuals reside in Gyalpoizhing and Lingmithang.
Sonam Tshering, Monggar
Edited by Phub Gyem
