Paro residents dump waste everywhere but the waste bins

DSC05879The small size of bins are currently an alibi for the act

As dusk appears, residents in Paro sneak to dump their wastes in every possible corner or their favorite dumping areas. They say the mini green waste bin is too small to dump their wastes.At the same time residents, especially those in the town are concerned that this trend of dumping waste freely will pollute the area.

“With three to four cartons the bin gets filled and people land-up dumping outside the green waste bin,” said one of the shopkeepers, Tika Ram.

The issue is made worse by the winds which blows the waste out of the bins into the surrounding area. And most of the time the stray dogs add to the mess by scattering it all over the area.

Most of the shopkeepers in Paro said that they were charged penalty for not managing waste properly. For this, they blamed the mini green waste bin which by definition did not suffice to contain the waste of multiple residents.

The Supervisor under Paro City Corporation, Ugyen Zangmo said that they have tough time managing the waste.

“Despite having waste bin in all the required places and two truck drums collecting waste regularly, people dump waste in every corner,” she said.

“We can’t trace them as they usually dump their waste in the evenings and late nights,” she said.

But the Paro City Corporation official imposed penalty on those shops and residents whose surrounding is scattered with waste.

Paro Dzongda Chencho Tshering said that if mini green waste bins are not placed then the Dzongkhag Administration would face great difficulties.

“Better to have something then nothing,” he said.

“Without proper resources and manpower, managing waste is a big problem,” he said.

The Paro Dzongda said it was a collective decision made by gewog Gups, Thromde officials and the Dzongkhag Administration to have mini green waste bins.

“If Government gives them enough budgets then we would go for big waste bins,” he said.

Having compactor trucks and collecting waste from all the door steps would cost around Nu 6.7mn.  However, the Paro Dzongda said with Nu 2.9mn they were able to get 18 waste bins and two trucks from Kolkata, West Bengal to dump the waste properly.

The landfill or the dump site area in Paro is located on high mountains because of which trucks are unable to carry the big green waste bins and dump it there.

The Dzongda said Paro in the earlier days didn’t have such facilities to manage their waste properly. The wastes from gewogs are also collected by the trucks.

“People are not aware of waste management and it’s their personal responsibility to manage their wastes,” he said.

Therefore to solve the issue, Paro Dzongkhag has decided to impose penalty seriously to those who dump wastes irresponsibly.

By the 11th Five Year Plan and once they get the budget there are plans to place big waste bins.

“We will be conducting meetings with Dzongkhag Administration, thromde officials and gewog gups regarding waste management and implement the Waste Management Act seriously,” said the Dzongda.

With that in place, everyone will be responsible and accountable for managing the waste.

In the meanwhile, even getting a sweeper is very difficult as people look down on the job.

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3 comments

  1. Parops are assholes…

  2. Why did’nt the problem of waste in paro arroused in the recent past and why now is perhaps due to not monitoring the waste dumpping vehicles properly by the municipal authority as per my opinion.why fine public when the municipal authorities fail to carryout their duites. If the small dust bins in shops and residents got filledup and the wast collectors never turn up for many days, the people dont have any option rather than to dump where ever it is possible.

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