Tarun Karthick
Campbell Bay, 6 May 2021
8067 people call Great Nicobar their home according to 2011 census. The main population is scattered in areas which are divided into three panchayats. These panchayats generate a lot of waste everyday which ends up in a designated dumping yard adjacent to the North South Road, at about 14 Kms from Zero Point.
The selection of the designated dumping yard itself is wrong as its located just around the corner of the North South Road. The garbage is instructed to be dumped in the ditch near the road, but it is seen that most of the time the garbage is dumped on the side of the road and it is not pushed into the ditch.
Nicobar Times received some pictures of garbage dumping near the road, at the dumping yard site and the general public who frequently travel by the said road complained that the garbage is causing difficulties for them, as it has started smelling.
Nicobar Times spoke to Mrs. Lalita Tigga, Block Development Officer, Campbell Bay, Great Nicobar who is also the Special Officer for all three Panchayats of Great Nicobar, she informed us that the Panchayats responsibly disposes the garbage in the ditch and some departments are responsible for disposing their garbage irresponsibly.
She further informed that she has already dispatched teams to push the garbage into the ditch with an excavator.
Proper garbage disposal is the need of the hour in Great Nicobar and there has been some efforts on the part of the Administration to streamline it. A garbage segregation facility is under construction, but the management of the segregated garbage needs to be figured out.
Economical and environmentally acceptable approach to garbage disposal needs to be figured out for isolated Islands like Great Nicobar and experts can be consulted to formulate a plan.