SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir government told the Legislative Assembly that immediate closure of the Achan municipal landfill is not technically or legally feasible and that Srinagar Municipal Corporation has begun scientific remediation of roughly 11 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste at the site, the House was informed on Friday.
The reply, given in response to a starred question by Hon’ble MLA Shamim Firdous, said the Achan Waste Management Facility — established in 1976 and a duly notified municipal landfill for Srinagar city — has accumulated legacy waste over decades and has periodically generated environmental and public health concerns. The government said it has authorised a package of scientific interventions under the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, rather than ordering an abrupt shutdown.
Key measures underway, officials told the House, include bio-mining and bio-remediation of the legacy waste stockpile, operation of a leachate treatment plant, continuous environmental monitoring, odour control measures and the creation of a green buffer zone to reduce health and ecological impacts. The municipal corporation has been instructed to move towards engineered sanitary landfill practices and to reduce reliance on land-filling by developing integrated waste processing facilities under Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0 and CITIIS 2.0.
Residents have repeatedly demanded closure of the Achan site, the Assembly heard. The government acknowledged those representations but said that, absent a fully operational alternative facility capable of receiving Srinagar’s municipal solid waste, immediate closure would be impracticable for a city of this size. The Housing and Urban Development Department told legislators that the policy adopted is one of phased closure and scientific remediation rather than abrupt shifting. Housing and Urban Development Department
On finding an alternative site, the government said no suitable land presently exists within the Srinagar Municipal Corporation’s jurisdiction. The Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, has been tasked to co-ordinate with tehsildars across the district to identify state land that could be repurposed for waste disposal, the reply added.
The Assembly paper set out why the government favours a remediation strategy: bio-mining and scientific capping can recover usable land, treat hazardous leachate and reduce long-term emissions, while integrated processing facilities will cut the volume consigned to land-fill. Officials quantified the remediation challenge as approximately 11 lakh metric tonnes of legacy material to be processed.
