Govt adopts environment-friendly measures for Amarnath Yatra

Srinagar, July 16: In a concerted effort to ensure a sustainable Amarnath Yatra, the government has adopted comprehensive measures aimed at achieving zero landfill and zero waste while maintaining cleanliness throughout the pilgrimage.

The Directorate of Rural Sanitation under Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Jammu and Kashmir has launched various initiatives to make the annual Yatra a zero-landfill pilgrimage.

The initial 20 days of the yatra have seen a significant amount of waste generated by devotees and service providers. The cumulative figure of waste on both axes remains 200 tonnes. Total quantity of waste processed in tonnes is 162.40, and total inert waste generated in tonnes is 34.30.

Out of total 200 tonnes of waste, the wet waste collection is 85.15 tonnes in which 85.02 tonnes of wet waste was processed and a little quantity of wet waste 0.07 tonnes was sent to EFL.

The dry waste collection is 80.31 tonnes, out of which 77.38 tonnes was processed and only 3 tonnes of waste is yet to be processed.

Similarly, out of 34.30 tonnes of inert, 25 tonnes are sent to Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC).

These figures highlighted the effectiveness of the waste management strategy, which emphasizes the separate collection and processing of wet and dry waste to minimize environmental impact.

The waste management strategy involves the careful segregation and processing of wet and dry waste, and it also includes the use of eco-friendly bags, a ban on plastic, mass awareness programs, proper disposal of waste, Water ATMs, Mascots for awareness and other measures transforming the yatra into an environmentally conscious pilgrimage.

Secretary Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, J&K Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary and Director Rural Sanitation, Anoo Malhotra have been regularly reviewing the sanitation facilities and progress.

Several initiatives with services providers have been taken to ensure a clean and waste-free yatra. Eco-friendly bags were being provided in place of plastic and polythene bags. Water ATMs have been installed at Yatra basecamps and enroute to holy cave to reduce the PET bottles consumption.

15 Waste processing facilities had been established on both Baltal and Pahalgam axis to deal with huge quantities of wet and dry waste collected from different camp locations and enroute.

More than 7000 sanitation workers are working in 3- shifts to clean the basecamps, roads, routes, and other resting places.

Eight processing facilities have been set up at the Baltal axis starting from Neelgrath to Amarnath cave shrine and seven processing facilities set up at Pahalgam axis starting from Nunwan till Panchtarni.

Similarly, the wet waste is processed using the conventional composting methods and the dry waste is processed through segregating into different types of recyclable and non-recyclable waste and further processing it using the baling machines.