NBJK 'Nav Bharat Jagriti Kendra' Ranchi Jharkhand India

In exercise of the powers conferred by section 3, 6, 25 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, the Central Government has made certain rules to regulate the management and handling of Municipal Solid Waste wherein a set of responsibilities have been assigned to the State government and Union Territories to which they are abide by.

But in practice, the solid waste management which is obligatory function of the urban local bodies is very poorly performed in Jharkhand state resulting in health, sanitation and environmental degradation. With over 3% annual growth in urban population and the rapid pace of urbanization, the situation is becoming more critical with the passage of time. The infrastructure development is not in a position to keep pace with the population growth owing to the poor financial health of the most of the urban local bodies in the state. Institutional weakness, improper choice of technology, lack of community based approaches and lack of community awareness towards solid waste management have made this service far from satisfactory.

For effective work on Solid Waste Management a clear cut policy guideline is essential as it would necessitate preparation of action plan and allocation of resources for the purpose. However most of the states lack a policy on the issue of Solid Waste Management. The Clean Jharkhand Project on Urban Solid waste management would devise a Policy document for the State and the efforts will be centered for its meaningful adoption and realization by the concerned local bodies.

The steps to be followed for preparation and adoption of the policy would be as follows :

The Policy Task Force with representation from all the sectors has been constituted to draft the policy documents which would be placed before the Urban Development & Housing Department and finally in the cabinet for approval.

Mere adoption of policy by the State would not automatically ensure the effective Solid Waste Management unless and until the concerned stakeholders are made well aware of its provision and facilitated its implementation. This is the task accomplished through liaisoning.

The Liasoning is also undertaken to replicate the successful interventions and strategies of demonstration level and facilitate collaboration among vario

The urban local bodies are important partners in the Solid Waste Management Program. Therefore to effectively co-rodinate with them the liasoning takes place. It is through liasoning that terms of partnership and allocation of roles and responsibilities are done.

In Ranchi, the CJP has entered into an agreement with Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) according to which the RMC is responsible for lifting and transportation of waste while CJP deploys Safai Mitras for door to door collection of waste. The road sweeping and drain cleaning is shared responsibility of both as CJP has to arrange extra labour where RMC staff are not adequate in number. On such terms and condition the CJP is intervening in 14 wards of Ranchi Municipal Corporation.

Liasoning takes place with other municipalities for replication of concept of CJP. To begin with meeting takes place with Special Program Officer of Municipality and Deputy Commissioners of the Districts to share the concept of CJP. This is followed by decentralized workshops to orient all the municipality officials on the concept. During the workshop the action plan is also prepared to initiate solid waste management process in that particular municipality. Such workshops held at Hazaribagh, Dumka, Koderma, Dhanbad, Deoghar, Giridih & Jharia.

As a result CJP concept is being replicated at Hazaribagh and Tilaya in the guidance of NBJK. The Medininagar Municipality is on its way to launch this concept. Similar replication is intended in all other municipalities of Jharkhand.

The CJP works as spokesperson for community to raise its issues and concerns with Ranchi Municipal Corporation. The issues concerning solid waste management and basic amenities like inadequate number of dustbins, poor drainage facility, irregularity in lifting of garbage etc. are taken up with RMC on regular basis However, through orientation and training to PDC, the community is slowly being empowered to raise these issues on their own

The dialogue held with technical institutions to get the technical insight and support on the issue of SWM. The collaboration is going with following two institutions:

Summary of SWM Rules 2000

1. S.O. 908(e). whereas the draft of the municipal solid wastes (management and handling) rules, 1999 were published under the notification of the government of India in the ministry of environment and forests number S.O. 783(e), dated, the 27 th September, 1999 in the gazette of India, part ii, section 3, sub-section (ii) of the same date inviting objections and suggestions from the persons likely to be affected thereby, before the expiry of the period of sixty days from the date on which the copies of the gazette containing the said notification are made available to the public; and whereas copies of the said gazette were made available to the public on the 3 rd October, 2000.

2. Application: - These rules shall apply to every Municipal Authority responsible for collection, segregation, storage, transportation, processing and disposal of municipal solid wastes.

3. Definitions:- In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires:-

i Municipal Solid Waste:

"Municipal solid waste" includes commercial and residential wastes generated in a municipal or notified area in either solid or semi-solid form excluding industrial hazardous waste but including treated bio-medical wastes.

ii Biodegradable substance

"Biodegradable substance" means a substance that can be degraded by micro-organisms.

iii Demolition and construction waste:

Demolition and construction waste means wastes from building materials debris and rubble resulting from construction, re-modeling, repair and demolition operation.

iv Leachate:

Leachate means liquid that seeps through solid wastes or other medium and has extracts of dissolved or suspended material from it.

v Generator of wastes:

Generator of wastes means persons or establishments generating municipal solid wastes.

vi Collection:

Collection means lifting and removal of solid wastes from different collection points or any other location.

vii Segregation:

Segregation means to separate the municipal solid wastes into the groups of organic, inorganic, recyclables and hazardous wastes.

viii Storage:

Storage means the temporary containment of municipal solid wastes in a manner so as to prevent littering, attraction to vectors, stray animals and excessive foul odour.

ix Transportation:

Transportation means conveyance of municipal solid wastes from place to place hygienically through specially designed transport system so as to prevent foul odour, littering, unsightly conditions and accessibility to vectors.

x Processing:

Processing means the process by which solid wastes are transformed into new or recycled products.

xi Disposal:

"Disposal" means final disposal of municipal solid wastes in terms of the specified measures to prevent contamination of ground-water, surface water and ambient air quality.

xii Composting:

"Composting" means a controlled process involving microbial decomposition of organic matter.

xiii Anaerobic digestion:

Anaerobic digestion means a controlled process involving microbial decomposition of organic matter in the absence of oxygen.

xiv "Bio-methanation":

Bio-methanation means a process which entails enzymatic decomposition of the organic matter by microbial action to produce methane rich biogas.

xv Vermicomposting:

"Vermicomposting" is a process of using earthworms for conversion of bio-degradable wastes into compost.

xvi Recycling:

"Recycling means the process of transforming segregated solid wastes into raw materials for producing new products, which may or may not be similar to the original products.

xvii Pelletisation:

Pelletisation means a process whereby pellets are prepared which are small cubes or a cylindrical piece made out of solid wastes and includes fuel pellets which is also referred as refuse derived fuel.

xviii Landfilling:

"Landfilling" means disposal of residual solid wastes on land in a facility designed with protective measures against pollution of ground water, surface water and air fugitive dust, wind-blow litter, bad odour, fire hazard, bird menace, pests or rodents, greenhouse gas emissions, slope instability and erosion.

xix Operator of a Facility:

"Operator of a facility" means a person who owns or operates a facility for collection, segregation, storage, transportation, processing and disposal of municipal solid wastes and also includes any other agency appointed as such by the municipal authority for the management and handling of municipal solid wastes in the respective areas.

4. Responsibility of Municipal authority:

Every municipal authority shall, within the territorial area of the municipality, be responsible for the implementation of the provisions of these rules, and for any infrastructure development for collection, storage segregation, transportation, processing and disposal of municipal solid wastes.

5. The secretary-in charge of the department of urban development of the concerned state or the union territory, as the case may be, shall have the overall responsibility for the enforcement of the provisions of these rules in the metropolitan cities.

6. The District Magistrate or the Deputy Commissioner of the concerned district shall have the overall responsibility for the enforcement of the provisions of these rules within the territorial limits of their jurisdiction.

7. The central pollution control board shall co-ordinate with the state boards and the committees with particular reference to implementation and review of standards and guidelines and compilation of monitoring data.

8. Management of Municipal Solid Waste:-

• Any municipal solid waste generated in a city or a town, shall be managed and handled in accordance with the compliance criteria and the procedure laid down in Schedule-II.

• The waste processing and disposal facilities to be set up by the municipal authority on their own or through an operator of a facility shall meet the specifications and standards as specified in Schedule III and VI.

9. Annual Reports:-

The state boards and the committee shall prepare and submit to the central pollution control board an annual report with regard to the implementation of these rules every year in FORMIV.

10. Accident Reporting:-

When an accident occurs at any municipal solid wastes collection, segregation, storage, processing, treatment and disposal facility or landfill site or during the transportation of such wastes, the municipal authority shall forthwith report the accident in FORM V to the secretary in-charge of the urban development department in metropolitan cities, and to district collector or deputy commissioner in al other cases.