Poonch Nov 4 (KNS) : With an aim of addressing unscientific waste disposal in Poonch town and to prevent dumping of municipal solid waste near Poonch river, a delegation of J&K Climate Action Group- JKCAG led by its Chairman Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat gave a detailed presentation to Deputy Commissioner Poonch in his office on Monday.

According to a press release issued, The meeting was attended by ADDC Poonch Pankaj Magotra , CEO MC Poonch Khalil Banday and other senior officers. Dr Raja Muzaffar who is also petitioner in the Poonch river pollution case in National Green Tribunal -NGT gave a detailed presentation to DC Ashok Kumar Sharma and other district officers and urged to initiate door to door waste collection in a segregated manner from two to three wards which can be processed separately.

The local members of JKCAG Lokesh Sharma , Sardar Dilbagh Singh, Syed Abbas and others suggested transfering the waste processing site to Salotari area near LoC.

“ The Deputy Commissioner Poonch Mr Ashok Sharma, ADDC Mr Magotra and CEO MC Poonch Mr Khalil seemed very much positive about addressing the unscientific waste dumping near Poonch river just adjacent to SK Bridge. They assured to start collection from some wards in a segregated manager wherein only biodegradable waste would be lifted 3 days a week.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp ChannelI also suggested lifting and processing poultry and fruit/ vegetable waste separately plus processing sanitary waste like diapers / sanitary pads.

The DC Poonch seemed very positive about these suggestions and directed the CEO MC Poonch to start this work soon. He assured to release necessary funds as well” said Dr Raja Muzaffar.

Ajaz Sofi, social activist , Mushtaq Ahmad Lone, RTI activist , Bilal Ahmad water expert and others were also part of the delegation who met DC Poonch and other officers

Pertinent to mention that Municipal Council Poonch has been hugely penalized by National Green Tribunal -NGT last year by imposition of Rs 1.62 Crores penalty out of which around Rs 25 lakhs have already been paid by them and deposited into DC Poonch’s account which is to be used for waste management work.

The municipality has been dumping its waste near the Poonch river for the last more than 15 years which is polluting the water and this was taken very seriously by NGT. In the last hearing the previous CEO MC Poonch gave assurance to clear the waste near the site by Nov 30th 2025 , but till date not even 10 % of waste has been lifted . The matter is listed for next hearing before NGT on November 13th at New Delhi.(KNS)