BJP MLA walks out of J&K Assembly citing ‘non-serious’ attitude of govt

Jammu, March 22 (IANS) BJP MLA, Sham Lal Sharma on Saturday walked out of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Assembly against the alleged ‘non-serious’ attitude of the government to his question related to scientific disposal of solid waste in his constituency. 

Sham Lal Sharma raised a question about the dumping of solid waste at Kot Bhalwal village in his Jammu north constituency and asked for steps to shift the same to any alternate place.

“Kot Bhalwal is the site of our scientific solid waste management. The site is being developed for scientific processing of waste through the NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India)," Health Minister, Sakina Itoo told the House in the absence of the minister concerned.

She replied in the negative to two related questions, including health risks to local residents and the steps taken for framing a Detailed Project Report in respect of waste disposal management and the physical or financial progress achieved in this regard.

Sharma said that he was not satisfied with the government’s response to his question.

“What did I ask and what have they replied? The smart city project rules give emphasis on scientific solid waste management, but this dumping site is posing a health risk to the locals and the government is saying there is no such issue,” he said and staged a walk-out.

While leaving the Assembly, the BJP MLA said that the government was “non-serious” and “this is unfortunate for this House”.

Earlier, on February 13, 2021, the Administrative Council headed by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had approved the establishment of an Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) project by the NAFED at Kot Bhalwal at an estimated project cost of Rs 74.41 crore and set a timeline of two years.

“The NAFED, an apex organisation under the Union Agriculture Ministry having substantial experience in the management of bio-waste, will manage the entire solid waste of Jammu city through the proposed ISWM project for a period of 25 years”, the order had said.

Sharma said his immediate concern was to shift the present dumping site at Kot Bhalwal village that was causing a major health problem for the locals.

He said the dumping site cannot be allowed to continue till the bio-waste management project becomes operational.

“What kind of approach is this to public healthcare? You dump hazardous waste at a particular place under the promise that in future the problem will be taken care of by scientific management of waste”, he told reporters.