Enforcement key to fruition of garbage-free Imphal goal
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: May 12, 2025 -

Whenever important events are scheduled in the state or discussions pertaining to keeping the capital city spic and span are held, government authorities tend to cite random discarding of household waste by the public for the garbage piles around the market places and foul smell from rotten vegetables rather than enforcing the rules enacted to initiate punitive action against the recalcitrant citizens or acknowledge the importance of having waste dumping points in public space and market places.

For instance, it is not for the first time that the state government has announced ban on sale and use of single use plastics as well as tobacco products.

With enforcement of such a prohibition lasting barely a week, traders nonchalantly resort to their earlier practice taking advantage of lapses on the part of the enforcement authorities.

Similarly clogged drainage system and encroachment on the river banks are often cited for occurrence of the flash flood during the monsoons season, and authorities see the public as the main culprit as and when waste materials litter the capital city.

As NGOs engaged to collect the waste do not perform their assigned task as per the specified frequency, people, particularly those residing in multi-storeyed buildings in the commercial areas are left with no choice but to pack household waste materials and surreptitiously dump the same at any open space, the roadsides in particular.

Had authorities concerned cared to set up waste disposal points in densely populated areas so as to address the ineffectiveness of the NGOs entrusted to collect the waste, then the citizens might also be encouraged to abandon the practice of random waste disposal.

As such, the proposals made by Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla during Friday's high-level meeting with officials of the Municipal Administration, Housing & Urban Development (MAHUD) for the renovation and augmentation of the existing Solid Waste Management Plant at Lamdeng in Imphal West district and the establishment of a new processing facility in Imphal East, among other suggestions, should be accorded importance in order to realise the goal for a garbage-free Imphal.

However, even if the existing Lamdeng plant is augmented and new plants established, availability of such facilities would be of little use in case the waste collection agents do not perform with alacrity.

Moreover, the Imphal Municipal Corporation, which is entirely responsible for overseeing cleanliness in Imphal areas, must have sufficient manpower and machinery, along with adopting policies and strategies employed by their counterparts in major cities, to achieve the goal.

At the juncture, the IMC seems to be most enthusiastic in collecting parking fees, as it evident from deployment of parking agents in the whole of Imphal city contrary to the state's commercial hub littered with waste, including discarded plastic materials.

As discussed in the meeting, if the need arise, the police department should be approached to provide personnel to tackle unruly elements who obstruct strict enforcement of the Municipal Bye-Laws and Acts.

In short, success of the project "Clean Imphal Action Plan: My City, My Responsibility" will reap the fruit only if the IMC leads from the front and effectively enforces need-based strategies chalked up to make the city garbage free and improve urban waste management systems.