Rymbui says quit notice to six villages ‘unacceptable’, urges Govt to find alternative landfill for Jowai

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaAugust 11, 2021

Cabinet minister and legislator from Amlarem Lahkmen Rymbui on Wednesday said the Synjuk ki Waheh Chnong Jowai’s quit notice to headmen and residents of the six villages who are opposing dumping of garbage at Mynkjai landfill is ‘unacceptable’.

Speaking to media persons, Rymbui said, “The decision of the Synjuk Ki Waheh Chnong (Headmen) Jowai to issue quit notice or to boycott (the KSU War Jaintia Circle, six villages) is deplorable to say the least but I hope better sense prevail as we have to solve this problem jointly.”

He admitted that the residents of Jowai town had to suffer so much during the last few weeks due to the garbage issue.

“However, the people of the six villages have suffered more than 20 years due to that (garbage dumped at Mynkjai) and they have been continuously agitating,” he added.

Tons of garbage has been piled up at Iawmusiang market during the past few days after six villages have opposed the district authorities including the Jowai Municipal Board from dumping garbage at Mynkjai, a temporary landfill.

Asked, Rymbui said that the opposition registered by the six villages is ‘quite justified’ and that it is high time for the government to find alternative measures to address the problem.

“As a government we cannot shy away from our responsibility. We have taken everything for temporary so temporary will never solve so time has come government should take the issue of garbage management as one of the important issues if we talked about beautifying the village or city and this issue now it starts at urban it will reach the village in due course of time due to pressure of population and everybody need land,” he said.

He also hoped that the government, district administration and the district council find an alternative location so that this issue can be solved once and for all.

Asserting the need to join hand with the government on waste management, Rymbui said, “If the stakeholders join hand together, waste is not a waste but it is also a way to generate income and other resources for the people.”

“The question here is not about the waste, it is about the management of waste.

If you recall the Solid Waste Management Rule, 2016 clearly specified on what is to be dumped and what should not be dumped and how the dumping ground should be managed but in Mynkjai it is just a dumping ground without following rules.”

Stating that the story of Jowai is very different, Rymbui said there is a district council, municipal board and the dorbar shnong and district administration.

“Time has come all these bodies should come together to solve this issue because as I said from 1990, the landfill was temporarily shifted to Mynkjai but this “temporary thing” will not work anymore, we have to find a permanent solution.

He also said that garbage is not supposed to be an issue if some percentage of the Solid Waste Management Rules was followed adding the issue of garbage reaching the landfill will be to the minimum.

“More importantly this is my personal opinion that especially in the urban areas, the urban department, the MUDA or the authority which grant the building permission, there should be a provision that some site like you are doing for water harvesting, there should be some provision for the disposing of the organic waste in that itself so that not all the waste will reach the landfill which create the problem for the people, for the municipal and for the residents of any particular area,” he further asserted.

Earlier, Rymbui also recalled that when he was minister of forest and environment, the department had held a series of meetings with the district administration and the municipal board to see how to manage the waste but nothing materialized.

“I had also held a meeting when I was holding the portfolio where I impressed upon the urban affairs, municipal boards, district councils and the district administrations not only at Mynkjai but all over the state that the time has come that the government should seriously think about the waste management. In that meeting, the issue of Mynkjai landfill was raised and the resolution was that they should find an alternative sites but it didn’t happen,” he said.