Shimla’s Urban Local Bodies to Establish Cleanliness Criteria

Deputy Commissioner Shimla, Anupam Kashyap, emphasized the need for all urban local bodies in the district to establish cleanliness criteria for their respective areas. He stressed the importance of personal involvement from all urban local body officials.

Presiding over a meeting related to the District Environment Plan organized by the Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board, the Deputy Commissioner highlighted several key issues:

• Single-Use Plastic: He noted the challenges in executing the ban on single-use plastics and emphasized the need to purchase only clean plastic as per guidelines. The single-use plastic buyback scheme will be effective only if sellers are paid promptly.
• Inspections and Violations: From July 2023 to July 2024, the Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board conducted 728 inspections, and the District Control Food Supply Department conducted 1936 inspections to enforce the ban on single-use plastics. During this period, 215 violations were found, resulting in fines totaling Rs 2.23 lakh.
• Sound Pollution: The Deputy Commissioner identified sound pollution as a major issue, noting that only two machines are available for monitoring it in the district. He called for more officers to be empowered to take action and for a special campaign to control the use of pressure horns. The Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board monitors sound pollution weekly in various sectors and monthly in 24 designated silence zones in Shimla.
• Garbage Collection: Garbage is being collected from house to house in all 11 urban local bodies in the district, including Municipal Corporation Shimla and several municipal panchayats. Each urban local body has established rules and identified hotspots for cleanliness.
• Water Quality: The Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board collects 29 water samples monthly from different rivers and drains to ensure water quality. Three real-time water quality monitoring stations are proposed for the Ashwini, Pabbar, and Giri rivers. Groundwater samples from various locations were found to be satisfactory, although three handpumps were sealed due to pollution.
• Environmental Compensation: In the year 2023-24, the Pollution Control Board took 79 samples from water-polluting industries and imposed environmental compensation of Rs 3.18 crore on 43 violation cases.