Community dustbins to replace vats in Darjeeling town

EOI, DARJEELING, DECEMBER 28, 2023 : The Darjeeling Municipality on Thursday initiated a pilot project of making the hill town free from vats, replacing it with community dustbins for a cleaner Darjeeling. 

On Thursday the civic body started dismantling garbage vats located at Dr.Yen Sing Road under ward number 22 in the heart of the town. Municipality Councillor Nitesh Gurung, entrusted with the responsibility of the pilot project, said the programme would be extended to all the 32 wards if the one in ward no. 22 was successful. 

"This is a pilot project. We will dismantle the vats which are misused and replace them with community dustbins. We will provide a surplus of big dustbins for households to throw their domestic wastes," he said. 

The town area has more than 100 garbage vats for the residents to dump their household waste as well as wastes generated by the trading community. The civic body has plans to set up shed houses in place of the concrete vats for the convenience of the residents. "People throw garbage outside the vats. 

This is an eyesore and also unhygienic. We will identify certain places where the vats are located to be replaced by shed houses. We have already done this in a few other places," said Gurung. 

The Darjeeling town has a population of around 150,000, excluding the floating population the number of which grows during tourist seasons. "Collecting garbage from vats is a problem for our conservancy staff. We are of the view that garbage collection will be more efficient and hygienic with the community dustbins," said the Municipality Councillor. 

Currently the Municipality collects and dumps the garbage of the town in three shifts. According to reports the town generates above 35 metric tonnes of waste. The waste is finally dumped in the chute located below the town. 

"The civic body is always blamed. But, we too have our limitations. We require the cooperation of the citizens to keep the town clean and green. The trading community must ensure they don't throw their waste on the streets and the residents should make use of the dustbins," said Gurung. 

The Municipality will utilize the CCTV cameras installed around the town area to help the police nab defaulters. 

"We will check the CCTV footage to catch people who litter their waste outside the dustbin. We will fine them Rs.5000," said the Municipality Councillor. Under the Nirmal Bandhu scheme, the civic body has already started door-to-door collection of waste and garbage from households for a fee of Rs.50 per house. 

The Municipality is also providing garbage buckets to the citizens to keep their household wastes. To help garbage collection by the Conservancy Department, the Municipality has acquired four new garbage collection vehicles. 

"We had requisitioned for the vehicles earlier but it was kept pending for a long time. Today we received four vehicles. Now we have got a shot in the arm and will be able to serve the community better," said Darjeeling Municipality Chairman Dipen Thakuri. 

The Municipality earlier had eight vehicles to collect wastes. However three are not in working condition. These have been sent for repair. Now with the new acquisition, the civic body will have 12 vehicle