Odishatv Bureau
Srinagar: The Badami Bagh cantonment, housing the Army headquarter in Kashmir, has gone green with the introduction of several environment-friendly measures like declaring the area `plastic free` zone.

"Badami Bagh Cantonment has been declared as a plastic free zone...Over the past 18 months, the Station Headquarters Cell, Srinagar has made a multidimensional effort towards making the cantonment area environment friendly," a defence spokesman said here today.

The cantonment has revamped waste disposal management that ensures segregation of biodegradable and non biodegradable wastes at collection points and use of ecological friendly methods for waste degradation," he said.

Among other steps, the army has developed a leaf compost farm to manage the leaf fall during autumn.

"The leaves and other horticulture waste, which were previously burnt in the open, now decompose into manure naturally without using chemicals. This prevents environment pollution and assists in enhancing soil nutrition value," the spokesman said.

The natural lakes within the cantonment have been cleaned and de-silted, restoring the natural beauty of by-gone years, the spokesman said, adding that the effort has also brought back the migratory birds visiting these lakes.

"This is just the beginning of the journey towards Green Cantonment. Projects such as installation of plants to convert garbage and night soil into natural gas are in the pipeline," he said.

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