PANJIM: Though tons of newspaper reams have been dedicated to the issue, agitated gram sabha discussions have rocked villages and various initiatives have been thrashed by the government, the satis

Arail (Allahabad): There is a Brazillian who is part of the Save Ganga campaign. Meet Swami Premji from Sau Paulo, disciple of a swami in Rishikesh, in Kumbh City to set an example and inspire Indians to save the holy river. He has come prepared along with 200 disciples. “We will start work on the project in a couple of days,” he told TOI.

His concern for the Ganga is 14 years old. “I came to India in 1999 and have seen Ganga deteriorating,” he said, recalling that last year when he was walking on the Lakshman Jhoola, the state of Ganga reminded him of Tiete the river that passes through Sau Paulo. “Tiete has turned into a dead river and authorities are struggling to give it a new leash of life. Fearing a similar fate for Ganga, I thought the time to act is now,” said swami Premji.

The Himachal Pradesh High Court (HC) has banned the packing of food items in non-biodegradable material from April 1. The HC passed the order on a public interest litigation.

Passing the directions, the HC observed, “A balance has to be struck between the economy, the need to provide essential items to the poor at a minimal cost and the need to prevent the degradation of the environment.”

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has directed the state government to ban sale of ‘junk food’ in non bio-degradable packs from April 1 but exempted essential items like edible oil and milk from the ban.

A Division Bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjay Karool directed that the list of non-essential items (junk food), identified by committee set up by the High Court, are not to be sold in non-biodegradable packing. The items included chips, wafers, biscuits, namkeen, candy, chewing gum, ice cream, chocolates, noodles, sugary cereals, among other items.

With some exhibitors at the ongoing India International Trade Fair at Pragati Maidan openly flouting the rules by giving away goods in plastic bags to customers, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee and the State Environment Ministry have decided to punish the defaulters.

Twelve officials of the DPCC and six of the Environment Ministry met representatives of the India Trade Promotion Organisation on Tuesday evening and took a serious note of those contravening the rules. The India Trade Promotion Organisation was told in clear terms that from next year it must ensure that exhibitors give an undertaking that they would not use plastic bags.

The ministry of urban development has released data that states that Indians generate 115,000 million tons of municipal solid waste every day.

Unfortunately, metro cities including Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, Mumbai, Delhi and Pune are no longer able to cope with these mountains of trash. Mumbai alone is generates over 5,500 tons of garbage every day while smaller cities are touching the 1,000 tons per day mark. The problem is equally acute across states. Lack of garbage management has driven high-end tourists away from Goa, according to the data.

PANJIM: The State government has drafted a legislation under which penalty would be imposed on those who litter open areas, especially with bio-degradable waste. The legislation would be discussed at a meeting scheduled to decide various means of garbage collection in panchayat areas, on Tuesday.

Environment Minister Alina Saldanha told reporters that the government was very keen in enacting the legislation on a priority basis and hence the same would be discussed in a meeting scheduled with Directorate of Panchayat, Tuesday.

Equipment to measure density of plastics yet to be procured

Salem City Municipal Corporation’s ban on sale and use of plastics below 40 microns could not be implemented from November 1 as planned, since the digital micrometers to measure the density of plastics have not been procured. With plastic carry bags, cups and water bottles choking the drains and sewers in the city, the civic body had in October held meetings with trade associations, commercial and industrial establishments and sought their cooperation in enforcing the ban.

SHILLONG: In a bid to avoid the direct discharge sewerage and solid waste into the river, the Government is likely to initiate the solid waste management (SWM) project by March next year.

A presentation on the entire project was presented by Mott Macdonald, a noted consultancy firm, during a meeting held here in the State Secretariat on Wednesday in the presence of Urban Affairs Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh and other officials.

The Sanitation Mission expects more local bodies in the district to come up with projects for decentralised waste treatment in the wake of enhanced subsidy component by the State government for compost units and biogas plants.

The State government has hiked the subsidy component for various types of compost units to 90 per cent, and biogas plants to 75 per cent. The government subsidy will be routed through the Sanitation Mission.