Chief Secretary, Nagaland, J Alam, IAS chaired an emergency meeting in the Chief Secretary conference hall, Civil Secretariat, Kohima on 7th June 2024. Taking note of the serious environmental hazard caused by poor and improper disposal of wastes in the upstream of Doyang dam reservoir in Wokha district, DIPR informed.

Chief Secretary emphasized the urgency to examine and undertake specific prevention and mitigation measures to clear the debris and solid waste collected in the upstream of the Doyang river bed. He also said that whatever is the sustainable way should be adopted and this mission should be carried out with close coordination with the district administration and the concerned departments. J Alam deliberated on the immediate measures required to clean up the collected waste and ask the departments to find medium or long term measures to ensure that this kind of deposits do not take place.

Chief Secretary also directed DC, Wokha to convene a meeting with the stakeholders and also to immediate field assessment in the upstream of the dam to ascertain its quality where debris are accumulated and submit incident action plan. He also urged to initiate a mission mode of cleaning the debris at Doyang dam within a week and maintain proper documentation records of the entire process. He further instructed that the exercise must involve various departments, fishermen, local villagers, NGOs etc.

Chief Secretary Alam also expressed happiness that all the concerned agencies and the members of the NSDMA executive body were present at the meeting and reiterated the need to seriously deliberate on how best we can take care of the problem in days to come.

Deputy Commissioner, Wokha Ajit Kumar Ranjan, IAS attending the meeting through video conference said the floating solid wastes comprising mostly of plastics have accumulated and piled up at the banks of Doyang Dam Lake. He said the most affected are banks below the Pangti village, new Changsu and old Changsu.

The DC also stated that the though the operation of Doyang dam is unaffected by deposition of wastes has harm the aquatic life/ecology and degraded the aesthetics of the tourist sites at the Doyang dam lake. He affirmed that immediate action will be taken to clean up the debris through the help of locals and lined departments and community social works will be conducted at the earliest.

CGM of NEEPCO Limited and State Nodal Officer, Er. John Zeliang, also virtually attending the meeting said the debris was washed down to the Doyang dam due to heaving rain in the month of May 2024. However, Zeliang said that power house in Doyang dam is equipped with trash rack which prevents certain size of floating debris to enter the main reservoir. He further suggested that it was very important to locate the gathered debris and collect it before it gets dispersed and to dispose it properly. It was also decided that NEEPCO will reimburse the expenditure incurred to the NSDMA.

Also deliberating of other issues with the departments, Chief Secretary stressed on strictly banning single use plastics especially below one litre water bottles and to reinforce the use of paper bags.

Departments of Water resources, Tourism, Police, Urban & Municipal Affairs and Fisheries also highlighted their resources and manpower status and suggestions during the meeting.

Read more: NSDMA directs DDMA Wokha, NEEPCO to submit report on solid wastes in Doyang Dam reservoir