Tourists Turn Manali Into A Dump Yard, Leave Over 2,000 Tonne Garbage Behind In Two Months
The searing heat in North India pushed people to the hills. Manali in Himachal Pradesh remains one of the top tourist destinations and during peak season, tourists influx there rises exponentially. Tourists having a good time is not what worries the authorities but it is the waste left by them. Manali usually generates around 30-40 tonnes of waste every day during peak tourist season and with 10 lakh tourists flocking the tourist spot in May and June, over 2,000 tonnes of garbage was left behind, a report in the Times of India said. `
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The garbage collected from Rohtang Pass and Solang till Manali town and surrounding hotels is collected and disposed at garbage treatment facility outside the town at Rangari.
The majority of garbage comprises plastic waste which is generally dumped here. Often, the municipal council sends plastic waste to cement plant at Barmana for complete destruction.
However, mountains of waste are still piling up. Not just in Manali but the entire district is clogged with garbage. The civic bodies here now look up to the waste-to-energy plant which can eat up all the garbage.
“The plant with capacity to burn 100 tonnes of waste every day is expected to start working by next week,” Manali municipal council executive officer Narayan Singh Verma said. “Manali generates 35 tonnes of waste every day during peak tourist season while it produces nearly 10 tonnes of garbage on the other days. Once the plant starts working, all our waste-related problems would be solved. We generate less waste as compared to consumption capacity of the plant,” Verma added.
The construction of garbage power plant is underway near Manali town and is expected to start working soon. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has strictly directed Manali and Kullu MCs to treat the garbage issue efficiently and take care that it does not cause harm to Beas river and local environment.
Tourist footfall contributes to sudden increase in waste production at destinations like Kasol, Tosh, Kullu, Bhunter, Banjar, Manali. Littering by tourists at Solang, Vashisht, Hidimba temple, Manali town, Kasol, Manikaran, Tirthan valley and Jibhi can be seen round the year. Places like Rohtang, Gulaba and Marhi suffer from littering only during peak seasons. It is observed that tourists generate more waste than the local population.
Kullu MC and Bhunter Nagar panchayats are struggling to dump and treat its garbage as they don’t have proper dumping yards. The plan is to bring the waste from Kullu and Bhunter to Manali to destroy the waste in the garbage power plant.
To manage the garbage more efficiently, Manali MC has asked hoteliers to submit an undertaking to segregate the garbage at the source before handing over them. Failing this, MC will not accept waste from defaulter hotels.
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