To be given special awards from next year: Javadekar
Mumbai : Identifying the importance of the role played by rag pickers and scavengers in the era of ever increasing problem of solid waste management, Union Minister for Forests and Environment Prakash Javadekar said that the government is planning to initiate a special award for them.
He also said that the government is planning to bring in new rules and regulation which would be applicable for all the villages with a population size larger than 3000.
While speaking to reporters here on Wednesday at the Sahyadri Guest House, Javadekar outlined enormity of the problem of solid waste management. “We as a nation produce 1,50,000 tonnes of solid waste every day of which only 90,000 tonnes is disposed off,” he said.
“Our country produces 2 crore tonnes of plastic waste every year. All the rivers in the country have been polluted. Hence, we are planning to bring in new rules and regulations and make the applicable even to the small villages with a population of 3000,” Javadekar said.
“The rag pickers and scavengers play a crucial role in solid waste management. More importantly, they toil hard to segregate and recycle the waste. But, their work has largely been ignored by the society. We want to recognise their efforts and honour them. We are planning to instill a special award for that from next year onwards,” he added.
Highlighting the problem of e-waste, Javadekar said, “As many as 30 crore mobile phones are being discarded by Indian every year which add to the e-waste. To tackle the problem, new rules and regulations would be brought in, where solid waste would be segregated as bio-waste, industrial-waste, metal, bio-medical waste etc. and disposed off accordingly,” he said.
Javadekar also said that 80% of the waste is carried to the rivers polluting them and the government is planning stern action to prevent this. “We have prepared a list of 2300 polluting industries across the country. We are planning to build a system that would keep an eye on these industries round the clock. Sugar and distilleries would be asked to adopt zero discharge regimen,” he said.
The rules regarding solid waste management are mandatory only for municipal corporations till now. But, we want to bring in smaller villages up to a population of 3000 in the net, Javadekar said.
