Anuradhapura MC plans garbage management system

Nimal Wijesinghe Anuradhapura Additional district group correspondent

A massive urban garbage management system has been planned by the Municipal Council Anuradhapura to ensure a healthy environment in the municipality area and as a major city beautification process.

The garbage disposal project has been designed under the auspices of N.C.P. Chief Minister Berty Premalal Dissanayake and Anuradhapura Mayor Dr. Kithsiri Caldera and Deputy Major H.P. Somadasa.

Explaining the implementation of new system the Deputy Mayor H.P. Somadasa said that daily nearly 35 tons of garbage is disposed of by houses and other agencies situated within the city limits.

The M.C. has been spending more than Rs. 380 million yearly to clean the garbage using 13 tractors and two lorries, with a fleet of 100 scavenging employees. We studied that most people used to dump garbage and waste into the two tanks of Wavuniyankulama and Kumbichchankulama and throw such dirt on the nearby road sides.

This habit is now being done away with. The unhygienic situation led us to implement a systematic garbage clearing methodology.

With the assistance of the Asia Foundation and number of NGOs, thrift societies, housewives societies and a series of public organisations, the M.C. has been able to encourage the people to start their own compost fertiliser manufacturing yards in their home gardens simultaneously to the home gardening scheme “in terms of let us grow let us develop the country” introduced by the municipal council, thus minimising the dumping of garbage by 10 tons per day.

The city dwellers are provided garbage dumping and collecting crates, dustbins etc in addition to guidance by the Public Health Officers, Municipal Council, members and NGOs regularly.

We are going to achieve a target of saving Rs.200 million yearly which would be invested in developing the city and creating welfare facilities for our ratepayers, the Deputy Mayor said.

When interviewed by the Daily News he said that the garbage disposal project would be extended to the school level from January. With the patronage of the People’s Bank through its ‘Sisu Udana’ savings scheme, in every school situated in the city will be provided with a ‘garbage collecting centre’.

The students will be instructed and encouraged to bring all undecaying elements and materials being disposed of domestic level to be dumped at the proposed garbage collecting centres at schools and for their garbage collections, money will be credited to the pass books being offered to them by People’s Bank as an incentive.

The Deputy Mayor said that the scheme of establishing school garbage collecting centres would cost Rs. 400,000 under the phase one. He said special attention is drawn to the places where garbage and waste are not gathered properly, such as at the Sunday fair public market, hospital premises, U.C. quarters, the area around Udaya Mawatha and Kada Panaha at the commencement.

The Deputy Mayor said under the new system the present garbage dumping ground and compost manufacturing complex located in Walisinghe Harischandra garden in the heart of the town will be shifted.

Also a tree planting project is planned to be initiated on the banks of Malwathu-Oya and simultaneously the Harischandra ground will be converted in to a public park on the lines of the ‘Vihara Maha Devi Park’ in Colombo, to enable the city dwellers to relax, which has been a long felt need in the city.