This refers to the edit “Sinking into landfills?” (October 25). There is a natural tendency to seek short-term but unviable solutions to the urban waste problem. Urban waste management is becoming a nuisance, owing to urban planners’ failure to recognise the enormity of the problem and by opting for easy but unhygienic solutions of dumping the entire waste in landfills in nearby villages. Under the Jawaharlal Nehru New Urban Renewal Mission programme, it should be possible to fund a scheme in which the urban affairs ministry can pay special grants to all civic bodies that set up urban waste management projects. Through public campaigns, people living in urban areas need to be acquainted with how the civic bodies want to deal with the issue. It is time our civic bodies are allowed to collect a special tax from residents of all metros, cities and towns. Proceeds of this tax can be utilised for scientific segregation, handling and transportation of all kinds of urban waste.
Narendra M Apte Pune
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