Navrashtra media bureau
PATNA: Former MLC Ranbir Nandan on Saturday said that the Centre and the state governments should create separate ministries to handle waste management keeping in view the gravity of the situation in the country and elsewhere in the world.
He said that the problem of waste management is presently handled by the local civic bodies which is unable to cope up with the problem. “India generates 27700 crore kilograms of solid waste ie 200 kg per head. But only 70 percent are collected while remaining 30 percent is spread on land and in water. Only fifth of total waste is recycled,” he said.
He said the problem has been confounded by huge e-waste as Bihar alone generates 1 lakh tons and it has increased by 500 percent in the past 9 years. “Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has understood the problem much before and begun its assessment in 2013. “Ganga river, which flows 445 kilometers in Bihar, has been hugely polluted due to e-waste. The Centre should provide fund for making plans for removing e-waste from Ganga,” he said.
Ranbir said that Bihar government has taken efforts to spread the forest cover up to 14.75 percent and planned to increase to 17 percent. Despite all efforts being made, it is imperative to create a ministry of waste management in states as well as in Centre as the NGT report said that that 60,000 metric tons of waste were collected at Prayagraj during Kumbh, he added.