Patna, July 7: The civic body has been repeatedly flouting environment rules.
The Patna Municipal Corporation has been unscientifically dumping garbage at the proposed land site at Ramchak Bairiya even though it has not been issued an environmental clearance till date. According to sources, garbage dumping at the proposed site started in December 2010.
According to the norms laid down by Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000, the municipal authority or the agency appointed by it, is required to obtain environment clearance for setting up and operation of waste processing and disposal facility at the landfill site.
Among the various steps followed before granting the respective authorisation, the state pollution control is required to hold a public hearing to assess the situation along with taking note of the objections against the waste processing and disposal facility.
Such a public hearing was held on March 6 at Ramachak-Bairiya village in presence of all stakeholders and thereafter a respective report from Bihar Pollution Control Board (BPCB) was sent to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and ministry of environment and forest.
“A report from the CPCB regarding the environment clearance for the garbage disposal and waste-processing facility at the proposed site is awaited. Dumping of garbage or construction of waste-processing facility is not allowed at the proposed site until such a report is available. Thus, PMC is not authorised to dump garbage at Ramachak Bairiya landfill site as of now,” said Manoj Kumar Sinha, member secretary of BPCB.
The guidelines, related to procedures followed for landfilling, state that waste shall be covered immediately or at the end of each working day with minimum 10cm of soil, inert debris or construction material till such a time waste-processing facilities for recycling or energy recovery are set up.
PMC commissioner Devesh Shehra, however, refused to give a reply on this issue. Environment experts from the city have also shown concern over this issue.
“Open dumping of garbage is strictly prohibited by Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000. Such open dumping of garbage can lead to adverse effect on the environment. Besides, groundwater would also be highly contaminated due to leaching. Moreover, it would also lead to unprecedented rise in the number of flies and mosquitoes in the surrounding areas,” said A.K. Ghosh, head of department of environment and water management, AN College.
