CAG flags lapses in state's urban local bodies on water, poor waste management
None of the ten test-checked ULBS could meet the Service Level Bench-mark of 100% segregation of waste at source.
CAG audit has observed that the basic services of water supply and sanitation were not adequately addressed by the government.(Photo- 'X')
Guwahati, Mar 26: Underlining several shortfalls in the functioning of the urban local bodies (ULBs) in the state, a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit has observed that the basic services of water supply and sanitation were not adequately addressed by the government.
None of the ten test-checked ULBS could meet the Service Level Bench- mark of 100 per cent segregation of waste at source, and the performance of the majority of the sample bodies was less than 50 percent, a CAG report tabled in the State Assembly on Tuesday stated. Segregation of waste at source in Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Dhubri and Silchar was 20 percent or less.
The Director of Municipal Administration prepared the 'Draft Assam Urban Solid Waste Management Policy, 2018,' after a delay of two years, which was yet to be approved by the Assam government till March 2023.
The audit also observed that none of the ULBS in the state had prepared long-term plans as of March 2022, even after six years since the issue of the SWM Management Manual, 2016, and DPRS were merely prepared on a short-term basis, which deprived the ULBS of the benefits of systematic interventions in the short term for the achievement of well-defined goals.
There was no contingency plan in place either for appropriate storage of waste or to tide over situations of non-performance of processing, treatment and disposal facilities.
The shortfalls did not stop there. During the four-year period 2018-19 to 2021-22, against the total actual receipt of Rs 144.14 crore, an amount of Rs 41 crore (29 per cent) was utilised by the ten selected ULBS. The worst position was in the Jorhat Municipal Board, which utilised only 6 per cent of the funds.
Scrutiny of records also revealed fund diversion. Silchar Municipal Board spent Rs 4.96 lakh towards procurement of duck, duck feed, grocery, drinking water for solid waste resource management centre, ration for circuit house, etc., in violation of Swachh Bharat Mission guidelines.
In all the ten selected ULBS, waste transportation was carried out by uncovered vehicles in mixed form, causing littering of waste and polluting the surroundings.
These uncovered vehicles emanated bad odour during transportation and lacked hygienic transfer of solid waste from one place to another, though required under rules.
Five ULBS showed to have achieved 60 to 70 per cent door-to-door collection of waste, while in the other five, it was between 80 and 85 per cent.
An audit in the ten ULBS indicated that only four ULBS processed 29-46 per cent of the solid waste, while in the other six there was hardly any processing.
By
Staff Reporter