Senior environment scientist in Australia Rajiv Kumar Sinha on Friday wrote a letter to the state government slamming it for their alleged negligence resulting in the garbage menace in the capital.

The letter was addressed to chief minister Nitish Kumar, his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi, chief secretary Navin Kumar and state environment and forests department secretary Dipak Kumar Singh among others.

Sinha’s letter, in reaction to The Telegraph report- “Garbage rots, stench spreads” dated July 26, reads: “You took oath and office to protect the people and environment of Bihar. Is this what you boast about ‘Development of Bihar’? This is a shameful situation for the capital city of a state. What about the other cities of Bihar? Learn some lessons from Gujarat, which has been recognised as the second best administered state in world...I am shocked to see The Telegraph news and I thank the newspaper for the initiative.”

Sinha is a senior lecturer of environmental engineering at Griffith School of Engineering, Brisbane and he has been putting his contribution towards environment conservation in Bihar for the past several years.

Based on the request of Sinha, the organising committee of International Horticultural Congress (IHC) 2014 recently allocated AU$ 10,000 for participation of farmers and horticultural scientists from Bihar. The 28th IHC would be held at Brisbane between August 17 and 22 in 2014.

Sinha’s letter came after The Telegraph highlighted the widespread garbage menace owing to the ‘unnecessary’ procedural constraints imposed by the civic body in implementation of new garbage management project in Patna. Despite selection of consortium of Jindal-ITF Limited and MBM-Dallah Waste Management Services for municipal solid waste collection, transportation from 62 wards on June 29, the project is apparently caught in a limbo owing to non-issuance of no-objection certificate by Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC).

BUIDCo on Thursday made a presentation on Integrated Solid Waste Management Project, Patna during PMC’s standing committee meeting. However, sources claimed the project was not approved in the meeting.

“There is no system of garbage removal in the city at present. Garbage from none of the internal roads is removed. Heaps of garbage lying around is a common sight. Pigs, buffaloes and stray dogs wander around the waste making it almost impossible for residents to walk by,” said Shailendra Dixit, a resident of Kankerbagh.

The scientist is also concerned about the unscientific open dumping of garbage at Ramachak Bairiya village- the landfill site identified for the capital, on the southern outskirts of the city.