BHUBANESWAR: The Eastern Zone bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday directed the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to elucidate its stand on Daruthenga dumping yard through an affidavit on May 30.
Hearing a petition filed by a group of Daruthenga villagers seeking to shift the dump yard to Tulasadehipur, the NGT ordered BMC to file an affidavit on the status of solid waste disposal and proposed waste management plant at the site.
Earlier in March, Municipal Commissioner Dr Krishan Kumar had made a representation before the Tribunal. The NGT had ordered BMC to continue with the project besides directing the Commissionerate of Police and Khurda district administration to provide necessary security support to maintain law and order, Kumar said.
While former sarpanch Prasant Routray said the BMC is dumping garbage at the site without any proper clearance, BMC officials dismissed the claim. In fact, there is no clearance from the pollution board for dumping solid waste at Tulasadehipur and the current dump yard is the only place allowed for disposal of solid waste.
Continuous dumping at the location is a concern for the locals as it creates health hazards. The solution is a state-of-the-art plant which has been proposed at Daruthenga, a senior official of Urban Development Department said. ‘’The ongoing protest by a group of locals is a ploy backed by vested interests to oppose the plant,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the waste-to-energy plant at Raipur which has been set up by the same company which is executing the waste treatment project at Daruthenga.
On multiple occasions, the group, which is opposing the project, was invited to visit the Raipur plant that has helped solve the issue of pollution and generated employment in significant scale for the locals. ‘’However, the villagers have turned down the proposals,’’ a Deputy Commissioner of the BMC said.