MANALI: The municipal council (MC) of Kullu is having a tough time handling tonnes of solid waste, which is currently being dumped near Beas river at Pirdi village. Earlier, the Supreme Court (SC) had issued a strict warning to the MC, urging it to identify a new dumping site within eight weeks.The counsel appearing before SC for the MC had claimed that the government had not released necessary funds despite repeated requests. Following which, the SC had permitted MC to continue dumping waste at the existing site for eight weeks and also ordered the authority concerned to release funds before November 16.The locals living near the existing dumping site near Pirdi village, blame the site for the pollution in the area. Not only Kullu, but garbage from nagar parishad Bhuntar and surrounding areas is also being dumped here. The locals have been protesting against MC for not treating the garbage scientifically, which, according to them, has resulted in air and water pollution.On June 19, 2017, the NGT ordered district administration to identify a site for proper management and handling of the solid municipal waste within two weeks. When MC continued to dump waste at the existing site, the nearby residents blocked the road to the site. The MC on October 1 bought itself four months’ time from the SC. At the end of the four months, people again blocked the road to the dumping site. On November 2, MC again bought itself eight weeks time from SC.Kullu MC vice president Gopal Krishan Mahant said they would soon finalize the site for proper disposal of the solid waste. “We were also planning to send our solid waste to Manali eventually, when Manali MC will start its plan to use garbage to generate electricity. They will need a lot of garbage every day. For now we are soon finalizing the site in Kullu where we can treat our own garbage,” he said.

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