During social events and holidays, Sumant Sahu does not invite guests or relatives to his home for a simple reason. He does not want to be embarrassed by the air that he and his family live and breathe.
Hundreds of families living in VSS Nagar, Gadakana Mouza, and nearby localities of Bhubaneswar share the same fate and sentiment as that of Sahu. The putrid odour that hangs heavy in the air has messed up their social lives too.
On days when the wind is playful, much of Bhubaneswar gets a taste of the stench too. Only that it does not appear to pinch the civic administration, pollution control board, and other agencies that are in charge of the capital city and its environmental health. But there is little the residents can do. Neither can they wish away the stench nor the colossal garbage dump where it emanates from.
Welcome to the temporary transit station (TTS) near Sainik School. Once a pile of waste, it has now grown into a hill and gives a Ghazipur vibe to this part of the capital. To get a perspective, at least 54,000 tonnes of garbage has already been deposited at the place in the last 180 days.
Worrying waste
For a city once conferred the No. 1 Smart City tag in the country, handling 300 tonnes of waste a day should not have been a major headache. What did go wrong? Official sources say the city daily generates about 700 tonne waste which during monsoon crosses the 800 tonne mark, almost double the volume it produced 10 years back.
The entire garbage used to be dumped at Bhuasuni earlier. However, after the establishment of 36 micro composting centers (MCCs) and 22 material recovery facilities (MRF) in recent years, 250 tonne to 300 tonnes of dry and wet waste get processed at the ward level through door-to-door collection for which Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has roped in seven NGOs with a fleet of 400 vehicles.
The rest is mixed garbage, mostly dumped by bulk waste generators at random places and collected by private agencies engaged to bring it to the TTS near Sainik School.
The bulk waste generators are mostly hotels, eateries, commercial buildings, industries as well as apartments many of which do not follow BMC’s norm of waste segregation and garbage handover process strictly, said an officer working with the sanitation wing of the corporation. “If half of these garbage generators followed the waste handling norms, the dumping crisis could have been handled better,” he added.
What has not helped is the low capacity of solid waste management (SWM) plants. It was after the TTS crisis spiraled out of control that BMC realised the need for a mega SWM plant which is being set up now.
Unspeakable Misery
Meanwhile, the stench continued to fill the air and the garbage hill threatened to turn into a health hazard. Residents of Gadakana Mouza, Mancheswar, Dhirikuti slum, VSS Nagar, and Rangamatia would vouch.
“There are people who suffer from respiratory problems as well as skin infections due to the unhygienic atmosphere caused by the dump yard. There are even people who have faced chronic health complications because of the waste,” rues Sura Patra, president of Gadakana Grama Unnayan Committee.
The garbage dumping also affects the health and education of children in a number of schools in the vicinity including the Sainik School and Kendriya Vidyalaya.“The foul smell started hampering the morning PET activities of the students. We are often forced to keep the doors and windows of classrooms shut to get rid of the odour that suffocates us,” said an official of the Sainik School.
The Windows of its infirmary is also kept closed to protect ailing students as the dumping site is less than 100 metres away. “How can the local administration carry out such an activity right next to a school is a matter of grave concern,” he said. Hiranmaya Pati, a student from the locality, said residents, especially those in the immediate vicinity of the waste yard, are subjected to an unrelenting assault on their respiratory system, with an increased risk of allergies, respiratory diseases, and other related ailments.
“The pervasive stench makes outdoor activities and even the simple act of opening windows in our homes a dreadful experience. The heaps of waste serve as a stark reminder of the city’s inability to manage its waste efficiently, diminishing the overall quality of life for its citizens,” he said.
Genesis of the crisis
It all started 14 years back at a 26-acre patch of land adjacent to Sainik School, one of the 33 premier Sainik Schools in the country. The BMC took possession of the land for transit storage, weighing, and transport of the waste generated in the city.
In the initial years, there were sporadic protests over the conversion of the land into a waste-handling site. But things took a turn for worse when residents of Daruthenga, about 20 km away, stopped the transport of garbage trucks to the nearby Bhuasuni dumping yard from the TTS demanding an immediate stop to the activity near their village.
As Daruthenga villagers intensified their agitation seeking a complete halt to waste transportation and bio-mining of existing legacy waste, BMC went on a time-buying spree. Last year in August, Mayor Sulochana Das and BMC top brass met agitating residents of Daruthenga and sought time till May to find a solution. Accordingly, BMC worked out plans to process waste right at the TTS and dispose of it from the same place.
It was easier said than done. Handling hundreds of tonnes of garbage at the small place soon proved an uphill battle task for the municipal corporation. Over 300 tons of garbage dumped at the site every day since May turned the place into a hill of filth. With waste processing yet to start in a full-fledged manner, a waste crisis was only a matter of time.
Brewing anger
Prafulla Das, a senior citizen from Gadakana Mouza, said what hurts the most is the garbage hill came up right next to the temple of Dasaraja, the deity revered and worshiped by villagers for centuries.
“Kirtan is organized at the temple during the holy month of Kartika every year and villagers are offered prasad. Consider our plight in the face of such stench and waste pile,” Das rued.
Members of Anchalika Suraksha Manch in Gadakana, a local outfit, have knocked on the doors of the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) and National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and other forums seeking a curb on garbage dumping at the site. They allege that despite a court order in 2012 to remove all temporary transit stations in the city, the civic body is running the TTS.
Pollution Control Board’s silence!
The growing concern about environmental and health hazards seems to have been overlooked by the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB). Though thousands of tonnes of garbage have piled up at the site, its environmental impact on soil as well as groundwater is yet to be studied, a member of the Anchalika Suraksha Manch said.
An official of the OSPCB regional office said BMC had not taken permission to carry out waste handling at the site as it was meant only for a small volume. He, however, couldn’t specify the volume which would necessitate the board permission at such transit stations.OSPCB regional officer Sohan Giri, however, said a team will visit the site in a couple of days to assess pollution as well as to check measures taken to prevent the same.
BMC buys more time
With intensifying protests spilling onto the streets and opposition political parties targeting the state government, the BMC has come under scrutiny and sought more time to resolve the crisis.
BMC Commissioner Vijay Amruta Kulange told The New Indian Express that it will take another six to seven months to clear the garbage from the TTS site.
The corporation has two challenges at hand - the current garbage generation and the piled-up trash. To tackle the crisis, trommel machines have been installed, while a Terex warrior machine which segregates and processes around 50 tonnes of waste per hour has been put in place. Besides, an integrated MCC and MRF with a capacity to handle 33 tonnes of waste at the TTS near Sainik School will be completed this month.
Similarly, a mega MCC and MRF are coming up at Palasuni. “Completion of these projects will enable us to process hundreds of tonnes of waste every day. We are hopeful this will help clear the accumulated waste from the site within six to seven months,” the commissioner said. He said the civic body cannot afford to create another dumping site at a different location as it may lead to a new crisis.
Priorities misplaced
While waste dumping is an issue, environmentalists said much of the problem is caused by an ineffective implementation of the plastic ban. “The root of the problem must be addressed first,” says environmentalist Jayakrushna Panigrahi. Though the plastic ban has been in place in Bhubaneswar since 2018, the single-use plastic trade has flourished unabated.
More than half the dry waste comprises single-use plastic, Panigrahi said and added that everyone has conveniently forgotten the ban enforcement. “Both manufacturing of single-use plastic in the state and clandestine supply of such banned items from neighboring states need to be dealt with strongly to deal with the waste menace,” he said.
The accumulation of garbage needs to stop but at the same time source segregation of waste, especially by bulk generators, must be prioritised to get rid of the current crisis, he pointed out.