As Kashmir chokes on its own waste, Baramulla youth refuse to look away

A group of young volunteers in north Kashmir has decided to stop waiting for someone else to clean up the mess as plastic chokes waterways, waste piles up at tourist destinations and open dumping scars neighbourhood.

The initiative has been taken by a group of youth as Kashmir’s environmental crisis are no longer confined to polluted water bodies or overflowing garbage dumps but has become a crisis of public responsibility.

Over 50 youth volunteers of the Youth Welfare Committee (YWC) of Nowpora village in Baramulla district have taken the charge for cleaning garbage from drains, public pathways and vacant plots that had turned into dumping grounds.

The waste was segregated and handed over to municipal sanitation workers for disposal.

But the exercise was intended to be more than another cleanliness drive.

“The government has its limitations. We cannot keep blaming authorities while we continue to litter our own surroundings. Every individual must own this responsibility for their own well-being,” said Imtiyaz Khanday, a senior functionary of the committee.

The intervention comes as J&K is facing a mounting solid-waste challenge.

Urban areas generate more than 1,500 metric tonnes of waste every day, putting enormous pressure on collection, segregation and disposal systems.

Drains remain clogged with plastic and household waste, vacant spaces have become informal dumping grounds and water bodies continue to bear the brunt of indiscriminate disposal.

Destinations such as Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Sonamarg repeatedly face waste-management challenges during periods of heavy tourist footfall.

Over the years the issue did not move ahead of the blame game as the residents blame authorities while the officials cite lack of public cooperation and departments point to inadequate infrastructure.

In view of this volunteers of Nowpora village have made an attempt to break the pattern.

The cleanup received support from local residents as several people  have joined the volunteers in removing debris and segregating waste.

“This is what we need. People must take a lead instead of waiting for the municipality to act. If every locality does it, half our problems will be solved,” said Ghulam Nabi, a local shopkeeper.

The YWC has decided to make the initiative a regular exercise a sit has announced plans to conduct cleanliness drives every Sunday.

The group is also preparing an awareness campaign in local schools with a hope to make waste management and environmental responsibility part of children’s everyday habits.

“Cleanliness is not a one-day event. It is a continuous process. Our goal is to make Nowpora a model for other localities to follow,” said Lone Mehraj, another senior member of the group.

Earlier this year, a community-led initiative in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district helped restore the polluted Sandran rivulet.

The move showed how sustained local participation can revive water bodies that were damaged by years of neglect and waste dumping.