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The NIMBY Syndrome

Writer's picture: Dr. Sanjay JoshiDr. Sanjay Joshi

Updated: Oct 22, 2024


NIMBY

In a city in India, the local civic administration was searching for a suitable open space within their jurisdiction for ‘developing’ a new dump yard for the city garbage as the existing one was filled to its capacity. They undertook a survey and shortlisted a couple of sites which were reserved for the same purpose many years ago as per their development plan. So, that land was the official property of the urban local body. They started preparing the land to receive tons and tons of garbage every day from the city.


However, the city administration did not consider the fact that there were hundreds of many new, multistoried residential complexes and housing facilities in the vicinity of this land they had selected for the dump yard. These were constructed over the past few years and had spread like mushrooms in a forest. The residents living there got an inkling of the plan of local civic body to use the adjacent land for dumping of the garbage.


Hundreds and thousands of residents came together to raise their voice against this proposed dump yard. Why were they opposing? Simple. Those wise men, women and children living there knew that if such dump yard comes up in the vicinity, it will cause unprecedented damage not only to the environment but also to their own health, their life will be like living in hell, they might lose the existing natural beauty, their surroundings will be severely polluted soon, it will create unbearable stench etc etc.


Like other ‘normal humans’, they were ‘victims’ of the NIMBY Syndrome. No..no.. it is not any genetic disorder or any medical condition. It is a mind set we all have developed over the period. It is Not In My Back Yard mentality. ‘I will keep my house clean and hygienic thereby generate waste in the process then I will keep it out of my house so it goes out of my house, out of sight and out of mind…but if you are trying to get it back in my backyard or in the vicinity of my residential area, I will strongly oppose it’ ! because of this mentality of the citizens, it has become very difficult for civic bodies to manage the huge volumes of waste that keep on accumulating.


But then why do the local civic bodies insist on using open dumping as the most common method of waste disposal when there is so much resistance from the communities? To understand this, let us learn more about this method of waste disposal. Open dumping simply refers to disposal of municipal solid waste on open land.


It does not have any specific infrastructure or facility to take care of the hazardous elements in the waste that keeps on piling up for days, months and years. Within a couple of years, you will find that what was a plain, flat land surface earlier has turned into a huge, tall, towering ‘mountain’ of garbage. Through the next articles, we will study the ‘anatomy’ of such open dumping ground. Till then, enjoy the weekend!


(The writer is an environment specialist. Views personal.)

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