Kohima, Sept 8: The Committee on Environment & Climate Change (2026-27) of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly has recommended the immediate revival of the defunct Kohima Solid Waste Management Plant at Lerie, calling its prolonged closure a “serious lapse”.
Committee chairperson Achumbemo Kikon made the recommendation during the ninth session of the 14th Assembly, seeking an Action Taken Report within three months and suggesting that the facility be leased to local entrepreneurs.
Built under the ADB-funded North Eastern Region Urban Development Programme, the plant was commissioned in 2016 with a 50-tonne-per-day compost facility, sanitary landfill and leachate treatment plant. It has remained shut since 2019 due to manpower shortages, landslide-damaged road access and poor source segregation.
The recommendation followed the committee’s spot verification in Kohima, Chumoukedima and Dimapur on September 5, which highlighted the scale of Nagaland’s waste-management crisis.
Nagaland’s 19 urban local bodies generate around 342 tonnes of waste daily, while the Lerie facility was the state’s only scientific waste-treatment plant. With it defunct, Kohima’s waste is being dumped at Dzuruzou, Lerie and Meriema, with mixed waste also openly burnt. The committee noted temperatures of up to 90.5°C at dumping sites, attributed to decomposition and burning, raising concerns over toxic emissions.
Indiscriminate dumping into drains, nullahs and rivers has further compounded the problem. Kikon had earlier warned that plastic and bottle waste from Kohima could flow into the Doyang River in Wokha, effectively “exporting waste” downstream.
The panel has also proposed a ban on septic-tank waste being discharged into rivers and called for the revival of the Meriema Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant and Lerie Recycling Centre, both lying defunct despite substantial investment.
The waste crisis is also worsening Kohima’s air quality. The Nagaland Pollution Control Board has reported that three of the city’s four monitoring stations consistently record PM10 levels above national limits, with waste burning, particularly between 2 pm and 10 pm, identified as a major contributor. Road dust and vehicle emissions add to the pollution burden.
Meanwhile, source segregation remains weak despite mandatory enforcement by the Kohima Municipal Council. A pilot by Zub Zub India in Forest Colony found that households began segregating waste, but collection trucks subsequently mixed it, undermining the effort. Several wards also lack adequate dumping space, while stray dogs scatter garbage.
The committee warned that waste entering drains can contaminate groundwater and worsen monsoon flooding.
It has called on the Urban Development Department, SBM-Urban and Department of Municipal Affairs to jointly operationalise Lerie, enforce source segregation and ensure cesspool access in 19 congested colonies.
The panel also called for implementation of four NGT-directed interception projects worth Rs 20 crore to treat polluted water before it enters rivers.
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Source: https://hubnetwork.in/assembly-panel-pushes-revival-of-kohima-waste-plant-amid-mounting-crisis/