SAMBALPUR: AFTER struggling for years to identify a suitable location to develop Integrated Municipal Solid Waste Management (IMSWM) System for city, Sambalpur Municipal Corporation (SMC) has zeroed in on Nildungri.
Commissioner of SMC Bimalendu Rai said 31 acres of land at Nildungri, on the outskirts of the city, has been identified for the proposed IMSWM system and the Corporation has already taken possession of the land.
The State Government has assigned the responsibility of preparing the Detailed Project Report (DPR) to a consultancy firm. A team from the firm recently visited the spot to conduct a survey ahead of preparation of DPR, he said. The DPR is ready and will be submitted to the State Government for approval. Once the Government give its nod, work on the project would be initiated, he added.
The SMC will also apply for environment clearance including conducting public hearing in presence of the officials from Odisha State Pollution Control Board and the district administration before initiating work, he added. The Sambalpur city generates about 100 metric tonnes of MSW per day.
Presently, garbage from Sambalpur is being dumped at Durgapali while that collected from Burla is dumped at Mahatabnagar and Hirakud’s waste is dumped near Gandhinagar and Sadeipali.
Before earning the tag of a Corporation, Sambalpur Municipality was dumping garbage on 26 acres of land at Jamadarpali from 2011.
Though the municipality had decided to develop an IMSWM system at Jamadarpali, the villagers on the periphery opposed it. They also did not allow the garbage to be dumped at the spot from January, 2014.
Later, a spot was identified at Basantpur here to set up the IMSWM system. However, the proposal had to be changed after land for the permanent campus of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) was identified there. Since then the civic body was struggling to find a suitable land.