JHADC told to work with JMB on garbage management
The Meghalaya High Court has asked the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) to act in conjunction with the municipality to ease the citizens’ woes in regard to the garbage collection in Jowai town.
“In the meantime, the Jaintia District Council should act in conjunction with the Municipality to ease the citizens’ woes,” the division bench said in its order passed after hearing a PIL filed by the Synjuk Ki Waheh Shnong Jowai.
An affidavit has been filed by the Jowai Municipality pursuant to the order dated April 17, 2023.
The petitioner flagged several issues and said that all is not well in the matter of collection of garbage in the town of Jowai.
The petitioner’s affidavit in such regard should be filed within a week from date, the bench said while adding that the matter will appear 10 days hence.
The next hearing on the matter will be held on May 12.
Govt wants to turn Khyndailad into a pedestrian zone
Tourism Minister Paul Lyngdoh today said that the state government is committed to declaring Khyndailad a pedestrian zone.
“Our commitment will be to have at least one pedestrian zone immediately and that is Khyndailad. I also had a meeting with the Chief Minister and he is fully in line with the need to declare Khyndailad as a pedestrian zone,” Lyngdoh told reporters.
He said some access to local residents which will be on the basis of car passes will be issued but the entire area will be pedestrianized.
He said that the people who suffered most in Shillong are pedestrians as you have hawkers, you have motorists using every way and there is limited scope for people to walk around.
The minister further informed that they have already started declaration of parts of Shillong as no-honking zones.
“We are in the process. The district administration and the police are in constant touch and from the tourism department, we already started by declaring Orchid, Umiam as a no-honking zone and similarly, other units of the tourism department will also be declared as no honking zones because the USP of Meghalaya is the serenity, the quiet which is disturbed by loud honking and loud music which sometimes carries beyond permissible hours,” he added.
HC asks Jowai Municipal Board how it is disposing garbage
The Meghalaya High Court today directed the Jowai Municipal Board to file an affidavit to indicate how the garbage is being disposed of at the moment in Jowai town.
Hearing a PIL filed by the Synjuk Ki Waheh Shnong Jowai, the division bench said that despite the Jowai Municipality’s assertion that a better schedule for garbage collection is now in place, the petitioner complained that collection takes place only several times a month, rather than several times a week.
Despite previous observations, both the Jowai Municipality and the State appear to be rather indifferent to the plight of the residents in Jowai, it said.
The Court said since the Municipality claims that a better schedule is in operation and seriously disputes the submission made on behalf of the petitioner, the relevant schedule should be disclosed by way of an affidavit when the matter appears a week hence.
“The schedule should indicate the localities where trucks are assigned, the registration numbers of the trucks and the duration that the trucks remain for collection of garbage at various localities. A map of Jowai should accompany the affidavit to indicate that the entirety of the town is covered by the garbage collection drive. The Municipality should also indicate how the garbage is being disposed of at the moment, even while the compost plant is being made ready,” it said in the order.
The next hearing will be held on April 27.