It is shocking to note that the garbage dumped indiscriminately in the illegally dug up pits close to the river-front at the Lokotsav festival venue next to Kala Academy were fully covered with mud on Thursday. It is learnt that the waste from the portable bathrooms was being discharged in the two open soak pits. Besides this waste from the temporary kitchens of food stalls, as well as the dry waste including plastics and tins, generated at the festival was dumped in the same pits. Obviously with waste from the portable bathrooms being discharged into open soak pits, the groundwater will be contaminated.
Plastic bags full of garbage were buried in the heap of mud close to the walkway-cum-cycle track at the riverfront. This is unacceptable. It is pertinent to note that in a portable toilet, human waste is collected in a holding tank. A special solution is used to curb the odour. Thereafter the waste is transported and disposed of.
However the common experience is that a huge quantity of waste is left behind at the venue where large functions are held. Whenever there is a program which attracts a large number of people, importance needs to be given to hygiene. It is the moral responsibility of the organisers to see that the venue is maintained as clean as it was before the function.
