Unscientific garbage disposal: environment damages, dog menace

Kashmir is known for its natural beauty owing to glacier-fed streams, water bodies and forests. However, unscientific garbage disposal is taking a toll on the environment and people.

In absence of proper solid waste management, unscientific garbage disposal mainly in water bodies and forests is causing extreme pollution. Garbage mounds in Kashmir’s eco-fragile tourist resorts are slowly poisoning the environment and have become breeding grounds for stray dog.
With mounds of garbage all around, the problem has propelled stray dog menace.

Abundant food resources coupled with slow sterilisation process have led to an increase in stray dog population especially in Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar.

Subsequently, this has led to sharp rise in dog bite cases. There have been reportedly several cases of rabies and deaths due to dog bites. So people in Kashmir are at the receiving end on two fronts—they are gradually losing their pristine environment to unscientific garbage disposal and facing an onslaught of stray dogs.

In last six months alone, the Anti-Rabies Clinic at SMHS Hospital has received 3015 dog bite cases. Over 60,000 dog bite cases have been registered at ARC in the last over a decade in the valley.

The problem has now assumed horrendous dimensions. Kids and aged ones are falling prey to these canines. Considered to be human-friendly, stray dogs, whose population has grown manifold, are fighting a battle for their space. It has been observed that cases of dog bites increase during the reproductive season of dogs. These canines become aggressive and attack passersby while protecting their newly born puppies.

There is a strong relation between unscientific garbage dumps and the growing population of stray dogs. Open garbage dumping sites in Kashmir attract dogs. As per estimates, over lakh dogs are present in Srinagar city alone. Srinagar which is being transformed into a Smart City is still grappling with scientific disposal of garbage.

Over 500 metric tons of garbage on an average is generated daily in Srinagar. However, in absence of segregation of waste segregation at source, especially of poultry waste, Srinagar’s lone garbage dumping site at Achan is overloaded.

The Government had planned to set-up a waste-to-energy plant at Achan in 2017 to reduce load. Even the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had fixed an 18-month timeframe to establish the facility, despite the passing of six years, the project is yet to take off. As a result, a pungent smell emanates from the garbage dump in summer and causing health issues to people living in its adjoining areas.

On the petition of a noted environmental activist Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat, NGT took serious note of haphazard disposal of garbage saying it raises substantial issues relating to compliance with environmental norms and implementation of provisions of scheduled enactments.

The NGT directed the constitution of a Joint Committee comprising experts in various fields and its visit to the Achan garbage site and ascertain correct ground position and extent of pollution caused by the illegal dumping at the landfill site, consequential health hazards created by it.

The committee has been asked to suggest remedial measures including setting up waste processing facilities to reduce the landfill to zero. On July 15 the high-level team visited the Achan landfill and will submit its report to NGT.

The segregation of waste at source is imperative to reduce load on landfill sites in Kashmir. Likewise, it is important to enhance sterilisation facilities for dogs. In winter, the dog sterilisation facility at Alesteng is closed in absence of heating facilities.

M Salim Khan, Professor & HOD, Community Medicine Government Medical College Srinagar (J&K). GMC Srinagar, said people, especially kids, are bearing the brunt of dog bites. “There is a need to take serious measures to prevent escalation of the situation. People must stop feeding stray dogs, garbage collection and disposal needs to be improved,” he said.

He recommended at least 100 dogs should be sterilised per day besides dog pounds must be set up to take care of ill dogs. Vaccination of canines must be regularly undertaken.

On May 30, the government of J&K declared human rabies a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897. The notification issued by the Health and Medical Education Department, makes it mandatory for all government and private health facilities, including medical colleges to report any suspected, probable, and confirmed cases of human rabies to the respective Chief Medical Officer and the State Nodal Officer of the National Rabies Control Program.

As per a study Operationalising the One Health approach for rabies elimination by Sheikh Mohd Saleem and Shah Sumaya Jan rabies remains a substantial global health challenge, particularly in resource-limited settings, where its impact is most profound.

Prevention is better than cure. Government and stakeholders need to join hands to ensure better sanitation, scientific garbage disposal to prevent rapid growth in the population of stray dogs. We have to emphasise with dog bite victims who besides physical injuries face psychological scars for lifetime. Let’s ensure rabies free, clean and green Kashmir

Author is Executive Editor, Greater Kashmir