Aheli Moitra
Only two months back, a colony in Dimapur joined the ranks of some other colonies in Nagaland in managing waste. The regular fare of dragging bins full of waste to nearby dumpsites, which are mostly a street corner, every night could be substituted with something more substantial. Now, a waste cart makes a round of the colony once every day, blows a whistle, collects the garbage and dumps it out of sight.
But waste cannot be out of mind as services are irregular, like all other good things in Nagaland.
A core feature of the urban spaces of Dimapur and Kohima is their garbage. Drains, rivers, streets and hill sides are perennially floating with a larger form of the waste we generate at home. Dry non-biodegradable waste (plastics, cans, batteries, glass etc.) is often left to languish with wet biodegradable organic waste (vegetable leftovers, tea leaves, match sticks etc.). The resultant garbage is often burned in the compound of the household/market that generates the waste due to the lack of proper dumping sites or methods. When the garbage does make it to the local dumpsite, it stays there, with its filth spread far and wide by animals/insects or the ensuing rain.
Eventually, choking of large and small drains is consistent alongside groundwater pollution and the eminent spread of disease hangs over the urban Nagascape.
Though colonies have tried much, this situation has been largely created due to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and Town Councils facing a legal suit that has held up elections to them, and thus the urban progress of Nagaland State for a decade now. Without elections, there is only that much development (raising of awareness, funds or action plans) that can be planned as per needs of the city/town. It has been about 53 years since Statehood, and the municipal bodies have functioned only for one term (5 years) before they came to a standstill facing opposition from Naga apex organizations towards reserving electoral seats for women to contest.
Meanwhile, in all these years, city municipal councils have been handled by administrators who have little accountability towards the city, or its people, unless one is strong of conscience. In any case, administrators are meant to execute a political vision—such an urban vision in the State’s case does not exist. There is also the pressing concern of funding, or opportunities like Smart City Mission that Kohima lost out multiple times on, due to the nonexistent urban democracies—who is to oversee the development of this however-smart city, or allot where funding is deserved, and when?
Nagaland Chief Minister TR Zeliang's Government has made two important moves this year in view of the impending urban disaster the State faces. In February this year, a solid waste management facility was set up in Kohima—hopefully the facility will be used efficiently to process waste, and more such units set up throughout the State. Then, in August, Zeliang announced that elections to the ULBs and Municipal Councils will be held—if this comes with a reservation, so be it; at least urban planning can get underway.
Both of these are insightful and bold moves given that the State is cash strapped (the waste management facility had loan assistance from the Asian Development Bank) and that, expectedly, Naga apex organizations will oppose the move.
The urbanscape of any political unit signifies the kind of development the rest of the unit will foresee. This is no different for Nagaland State. Its three major urban hubs—Dimapur, Kohima and Mokokchung—have seen adhoc, directionless and sloppy development over the years. This can change very quickly if the right systems are adopted, and people made a core part of their operations. Besides, the ULBs are fertile ground for bringing accountability to the system, as their zone of influence is limited, making them open to better scrutiny. Hopefully the TR Zeliang government will stand firm on this path and move forward to create a sound urban development mechanism.
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