Leh: The Hon’ble Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh (HLG), Brigadier (Dr) BD Mishra (Retd) inaugurated the Community Waste Management Initiative at Solid Resource Management Centre, Block Tehsil Office Compound in Chuchot Yokma. The Community Waste Management Initiative is a joint initiative of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and HDFC Bank in partnership with Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department. It will benefit 25 villages in Chuchot and Kharu blocks.
Speaking at the event, the HLG highlighted the importance of keeping ourselves healthy and the role of managing solid waste and wastewater. Calling Ladakh a beautiful and pristine region, the Terming cleanliness as the foremost behaviour of home sapiens, the HLG mentioned that waste management is a part of cleanliness. He also mentioned the impact of non-biodegradable waste such as plastic on the environment and new techniques being introduced to address the issue of waste management. He commended new companies and institutions that are coming forward to tackle the issue of waste management through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. He highlighted the role of every citizen in cooperating to make such initiatives successful and also teach their children to follow in their footsteps.
Stating that the mission to make solid waste management initiatives successful to make Ladakh a developed society should be the main carry home for the audience assembled at the function, the HLG highlighted the importance of adopting civic sense as ‘our second nature’ for a healthy society. He cited the example of the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi who advocates the elimination of single-use plastic in India and took the responsibility to clean the Mamallapuram beach. He emphasised using plastic waste to our advantage by using it in the construction of roads and home insulation purposes.
The HLG also inspected the wet waste collector and the solid waste management centre in which waste is segregated into biodegradable and non-biodegradable and further into wet and dry waste followed by composting, sorting, shredding and storage/recycling. He also felicitated officials and members of SHGs responsible for making the solid waste management centre for Chuchot and Kharu blocks successful.
Executive Councillor, LAHDC Leh, Tashi Namgyal Yakzee apprised the HLG of the implementation of 18 waste management centres under Project Tsangda in Leh district out of which 14 are currently fully functional to tackle the issue of solid waste management along with the issues faced in its successful implementation, including the shortage of dedicated staff to keep the waste management centre functional.
Tahir Ahmed Khan from HDFC Bank informed the audience about various initiatives taken by them under their CSR activities.
Earlier, Secretary, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj (RD&PR) Department, Shashanka Ala, IAS, welcomed the guests while Principal Advisor, CII, Lt Gen J P Nehra gave the concluding remarks.
