PORIEM: The Village Panchayat of Mauxi, Sattari has taken an energetic move towards effective and hygienic disposal of sanitary waste, the panchayat has placed garbage bins outside the compound wall of every house in the village and collects the waste weekly.
When contacted Sarpanch Somnath Kale told that the locals are responding well to the initiative and they are utilising the bins to discard used diapers and sanitary pads. “We have often seen that the sanitary pads, diapers are strewn on the roads and to avoid this we have started this initiative” Kale said.
Kale further said that this initiative will inculcate in people the habit of disposing of sanitary waste in a hygienic manner.
Panchayat secretary of Mauxi panchayat Sandeep Halyali said that Mauxi panchayat does not have a proper garbage treatment plant, making the handling of wet waste and sanitary items a challenge as people opt to dump it in the open spaces, forests, rivulets and by roadsides.
“After a thorough study, I along with the sarpanch Kale, panch Sulbha Desai and other panch members decided to keep a dustbin at each and every house so that it will be easy for the villagers to dispose the sanitary pads, diapers and napkins,” Halyali said.
Halyali further said that in a month the panchayat collect one tonne of such waste and sent it to the bio-medical waste plant at Kundaim to treat such waste.
It is learnt that the problem of garbage or waste is seen all over the Sattari taluka. At Redeghat in Valpoi, a huge pile of garbage can be seen dumped along the main road, which is the entry point to Valpoi town. Four out of the 12 panchayats in Sattari taluka have set up material recovery facility (MRF) sheds, while the remaining panchayats have sent proposals for the construction of such a facility to the Directorate of Panchayats.
It is also learnt that the panchayats have also been instructed to set up CCTVs to curb the menace of dumping garbage.
