The public have to take more responsibility for the waste that they are generating, Amlarem MLA and cabinet minister Lahkmen Rymbui said today when asked about the seemingly intractable mess that is Jowai’s garbage problem.
Rymbui said that both individuals and the government are responsible for the garbage but that people are concerned about keeping their homes clean but not their surroundings.
“Since 2019 I have said that the next problem in our everyday life, especially in urban areas, will be water and garbage. How to address this issue is sensitive,” he stated.
With several attempts to dump Jowai’s massive piles of garbage falling through because of opposition from nearby villages, Rymbui also suggested that landfills be located in areas away from human habitation and rivers.
But he further criticised the public by saying that the blue and green dustbins that were distributed to the public for the segregation of organic and inorganic waste are not used for the purpose. “The reality is that people continue to dump garbage indiscriminately. The [green and blue] buckets are instead used to store rice or other essentials,” he claimed.
