Uma ticks off Kedarnath officials for poor sanitation

DEHRADUN: Kedarnath Nagar panchayat officials swung into action to clean the temple town after the minister for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation, Uma Bharti, recently ticked them off for poor sanitation condition there and also posted photos of open dumps on her Twitter handle.
She also tweeted that she had directed the Rudraprayag district administration to take immediate steps to clean the pilgrimage site.
During her visit to Rudraprayag on Friday, Uma Bharti had also urged people through her tweets to keep the Gaurikund clean.
Rudraprayag municipal council officials, however, claimed that it was just a random incident otherwise the district generally remains clean.
Locals rue the green forest is getting dirtier due to unavailability of proper waste disposal sites.
“We either burn garbage on our own or throw in the forest area. Municipal staff who pick up garbage, dump it in nearby villages, which is eventually carried by rivers,” said Satender Kumar (49), a resident of Gaurikund.
Kedarnath, where footfall is around 3,000-5,000 per day during the peak season, the district administration has deployed only 25 sanitation staff. According to municipal council chairperson Rakesh Nautiyal, the district generates around 150 tons of garbage every month.”
District coordinator of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and newly-appointed chairperson of Kedarnath nagar panchyat Dev Prakash Semwal told TOI, “The lack of scientific disposal of waste is not just limited to Rudraprayag, but is a state-wide problem. We really need to have scientific solid waste management system across Uttarakhand to save our rivers from being polluted.”