Rafiq Wani
TANGMARG
Just lying in the lap of Pir Panjal range mountains, Tangmarg which is a tourist rich place in North Kashmir’s Baramulla has no proper garbage dumping site. Some kilometres away from Tangmarg lays famous resort of Gulmarg.
The pedestrians and commuters said that the garbage is being dumped in open patch of land which belongs to Municipal Committee Tangmarg. “It possesses serious health risks as the site is hub of many private and public offices,” a trader in the area said.
The present dumping site is also close to a local Sumo Stand where hundreds of people come and go every day.
“The presence of dozens of dogs near the garbage has unleashed a reign of terror among the passengers and pedestrians,” said Mohammad Ashraf Lone, a passenger.
The different offices around the site include Municipality Office, Wild Life Office, Police station Tangmarg, Court, Sub-District Magistrate’s office.
“We are bound to throw garbage here because there is no other place for it,” the locals and traders situated around the site said.
“Earlier the department had a dumping place near Kazipora but the people of the area opposed it,” said an employee of the Municipality.
When Kashmir Life asked the residents of Kazipora about their opposition to the dumping site, they said, “the garbage would flow in to the water stream, Babul Canal, the water of which is supplied to different areas through pipeline, that is why we opposed to it.”
The Chief Executive Officer of Municipality Tangmarg /Gulmarg, Abdul Mateen Baba, told Kashmir Life over phone that at present the department has not any proper dumping site but the department has identified a patch of land near Kawnar on which the work will start in March this year and it will be constructed at the cost of Rs 3.50 crore.”
(Rafiq Wani is an Intern with Kashmir Life.)
