The Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) has decided on an initiative to use organic items like flowers and leaves, which have been left at the Mahananda river bank during immersion after Durga Puja, to recycle them into fertiliser and sell it to tea estates and agricultural firms.
The initiative, sources said, has been taken with a two-fold plan. Firstly, it will reduce the pollution at Mahananda river, the main water body that moves through Siliguri. Secondly, it would create an avenue of additional revenue for the civic body.
Asok Bhattacharya, chairperson of the board of administrators at the SMC, said that tonnes of such organic materials left at the immersion ghat by Durga Puja organisers were collected and taken to the dumping ground by civic workers.
“But this time, an idea struck us as to whether these items can be used to make organic fertiliser, a product with considerable demand in the tea belt and also among farmers. We had earlier collected organic wastes from fruit and vegetable markets,” Bhattacharya, who is in Calcutta now, said over phone.
He said that a separate area at the dumping ground was identified where organic items would be decomposed and treated to make the fertiliser. “Once I reach Siliguri, I will check out the progress of the project. We feel this initiative can fetch us revenue and we can continue with it,” he added.
The steady rise in pollution of the Mahananda river is a major concern for Siliguri residents. In fact, the issue was even raised before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and there are strict directives from the NGT that the local civic body, the district administration and agencies like Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority should take up steps to reduce river pollution.
Animesh Bose, an environmentalist in Siliguri, lauded the mode to convert leftover organic items at the river bank into fertiliser. “It is an initiative that can largely help check pollution of Mahananda. Also, disposal of wastes at the regulated market (wholesale market of fruits, vegetables and fish) can also be addressed through this plan,” he said.