SRINAGAR: The Taliri Nallah flowing through the Bakiaker village has become a garbage dumping site with people residing nearby it throwing all the waste on its bank. “Covered by thick green trees, the stream was once clean and its banks a good place to sit. However, with people dumping every type of waste on its banks, the stream now emanates foul smell,” the locals told KNS.
The locals said the stream, which was once praised by its fast shrinking. “Earlier, people would sit for hours on the banks of this stream. But now it is so filthy that people can’t even withstand its glance” said Nazir Ahmad of Handwara. He said, scores of people bring waste, hides of animals and cow dung and dump it into the Nallah.
65 year old Abdul Aziz while pointing towards the banks of the Nallah said, “We used to sit, chat and even eat on the stream banks. But now everything is so dirty and stinky here. We don’t even come to sit here.” he told KNS. Residents of the Bakiaker alleged in the absence of solid waste management facility the garbage heaps are a common scene here and local residents allege that the Rural Development Department is doing nothing to address the problem. Residents demand that the government should introduce a scientific mechanism to recycle the domestic waste.