CUTTACK: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has constituted a fact-finding committee to inspect the garbage dump at the temporary transit station (TTS) of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation near Sainik School and submit a report within four weeks.
The NGT has suo motu registered a case regarding the huge garbage dump of at least 54,000 tonne near Sainik School which is posing serious health hazards to the citizens.
Harapriya Patel, a resident of the Chandrasekharpur area, submitted a complaint bringing to the notice of the Tribunal a media report on the warning by experts about the health hazards posed by the garbage dump at the TTS. The media report said the windows of Sainik School and Kendriya Vidyalaya have to be kept closed to protect students from the smell, odour and ill-effects of the garbage site which is located less than 100 metre away in violation of the siting criteria.
While observing that the photographs published along with the media report “presents a despicable situation of the dumping site near the Sainik School”, the Tribunal said, “the matter requires consideration.”
The bench of B Amit Sthalekar (judicial member) and Arun Kumar Verma (expert member) said, “In order to elicit the veracity of the allegations made, we deem it appropriate to constitute a fact-finding committee. The committee shall inspect the site in question and submit its report within four weeks on affidavit with regard to the allegations made.”
The committee includes senior scientists from the Odisha State Pollution Control Board, Central Pollution Control Board and senior scientist/environmentalist, from Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation. “The Odisha State Pollution Control Board shall be the nodal office for all logistic purposes and for filing the report of the committee on affidavit within four weeks,” the bench further said, fixing March 4 as the next date for hearing.
The Tribunal in its order said the media report stated that the waste handling capacity of BMC is 300 tonne per day whereas the city now generates about 700 tonne of waste which during monsoon crosses 800 tonne mark.
