Two senior NC leaders and former ministers in Omar Abdullah’s regime are playing an active role in instigating the masses to protest against the dumping of garbage at Achan as the due are playing to construct a housing colony in the area. Protests continued for the eight consecutive days on Saturday with people opposing the dumping of garbage in the area and have taken to violent protests in the locality. Many SMC vehicles were damaged and drivers injured by angry protestors when they tried to move towards the only dumping site in the city. Sources said that the two top NC leaders have earlier purchased a large chunk of land in the area at a very low price.
Now they are playing to construct a housing colony and have also allegedly encroached a major portion of the Achan dumping site. The government has received inputs- revealing that these two NC leaders have been instigating the people by using their party workers to protest against the government so that the garbage dumping site could be transferred to some other area. The Achan dumping site is the only place in Srinagar which the government has been using since decades to dispose the waste being collected from the entire Srinagar city- there is no other site wherein the wastes could be dumped. In a planned manner, as per sources, the two NC leaders who have ministers in Omar Abdullah’s cabinet for six years purchased a large chunk of land near the site.
Sources said that the rate per kanal at that time was less than 50 thousand rupees when the two ministers had purchased the land. Now, the duo has been striving to construct a housing colony and also open up a housing corporation in the area. They want to sell a portion of the land at per kannal basis and if the dumping site is shifted from Achan, the price of the land there would be no less than 50-70 lakh rupees per kannal. Utilising their workers for the purpose, these two NC leaders have been playing an active role in mobilising the locals in the area against the government and have instigated people to protest for the shifting of the dumping site.
Meanwhile, due to the standoff at Achan, the Srinagar has started to stink and various diseases due to the nonremoval of the garbage have erupted in various areas.People across Srinagar are facing immense problems due to heaps of garbage scattered all over the place. Dumpers placed by SMC at many places in the city are overflowing and stinking. On an average 400 metric tons of solid garbage is produced every day in Srinagar and dumped at the Achan garbage dump. However, the agitation launched by Achan residents has halted dumping in the area. Garbage dumpers have been parked on Batamaloo-Bemina crossing besides Karan Nagar for the past several days. Heaps of garbage could be seen piled up outside the main gates of major hospitals of Srinagar, where visitors are forced to hold their breath while entering or leaving the premises.
The Sanitation Officer SMC ManzoorTurray said when contacted by the Kashmir Leader Magazine that there is a land mafia active in the area and that it wants to grab the notified land for raising housing colonies. He alleged that it is the mafia which is using the locals against SMC .“The government has taken up the issue seriously and with the help of police and other departments dumping will resume at Achan soon.
People across Srinagar are facing immense problems due to heaps of garbage scattered all over the place. Dumpers placed by SMC at many places in the city are overflowing and stinking. On an average 400 metric tons of solid garbage is produced every day in Srinagar and dumped at the Achan garbage dump. However, the agitation launched by Achan residents has halted dumping in the area. Garbage dumpers have been parked on Batamaloo- Bemina crossing besides Karan Nagar for the past several days.
