BHUBANESWAR: Giving an indication of a breakthrough in the impasse over the dumping of waste at the Bhuasuni dump yard, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday announced that movement of garbage to the designated site near Daruthenga will resume from Wednesday.
The announcement came after Housing and Urban Development Minister Usha Devi held a meeting with Daruthenga village representatives in presence of the department Secretary G Mathivathanan, BMC Commissioner Vijay Amruta Kulange and Jatni MLA Suresh Routray at Lok Seva Bhawan in the morning.
Devi said the meeting with the villagers was fruitful. “We heard the grievances of the villagers and asked BMC to fulfil it within the nine months time they have sought,” she said. The BMC Commissioner said as decided in the meeting, that the Corporation will resume shifting of waste to the site from the temporary transit station (TTS) near Sainik School from August 31.
He further said the civic body will adhere to the nine-month action plan presented before the villagers in the meeting and completely stop further transportation and dumping of waste at Bhuasuni after May 2023.
“We will ensure construction and operation of the required number of ‘wealth centres’ in a time-bound manner so as to process the entire waste generated in the BMC area,” he said.
Garbage transport to Bhuasuni dumpyard to start from Aug 31
BMC also stated that the Housing and Urban Development Secretary will review the progress of the establishment of wealth centres and the reduction in transportation of waste to Bhuasuni every month.
“Based on the establishment of wealth centres, the BMC Commissioner and Daruthenga sarpanch will mutually decide on commencement of bio-mining project at the dump yard at the earliest,” a Corporation release stated. BMC officials said the civic body has communicated the same to Daruthenga sarpanch Tapan Chakrabarty.
The sarpanch, on the other hand, said though BMC has decided to dump waste at the site, their protest will continue till waste transport to the site is completely stopped. He said they have also sought Rs 50 lakh compensation for the family of the youth who allegedly died after being hit by a garbage transport vehicle in the village.
Meanwhile, the shifting of waste from the temporary transit station to Bhuasuni had remained paralysed for nearly 20 days due to protests by the villagers demanding compensation for the victim’s family and an immediate ban on the dumping of trash at the site.