Bokaro deputy commissioner R.M. Ray on Tuesday directed Chas SDO Shashi Ranjan to start work on the proposed garbage recycling plant at Kalapathar within a fortnight, ignoring villagers' protest against disposal of waste in that area.
Also, he asked the SDO to take police help and use force, if need be, to complete the long-delayed project at the earliest, which would help civic authorities keep the township clean and tidy.
DC Ray said Chas Municipal Corporation had been facing problems in disposing waste. "Thus, it has been decided that the waste recycling plant will be set up at Kalapathar, where the government has purchased land, and the Chas SDO has been directed to get the work done as quickly as possible," he added.
SDO Ranjan said he would soon convene a meeting with the villagers and explain them how the recycling plant would work. "We may take a team of villagers to recycling plants working elsewhere and show them how they function. First we will try to convince them that they will not face any problem. Most importantly, garbage will not be left unattended," he said.
"But if they remain adamant, the government will be forced to use power," he added.
The SDO said a tender would be floated in December, inviting agencies for construction of the boundary walls around the 10-acre plot. The recycling plant would be ready in next nine months, he added.
Sources said the state urban development department had sanctioned Rs 16 lakh for purchasing land and another Rs 2 crore for setting up a waste recycling plant for Chas township in 2011-12. After a long search, the administration managed to procure 10 acres at Kalapathar village, about 7km away from Chas township, in January 2015 for the project.
However, hundreds of villagers, led by local politicians, had been objecting to the project there as they apprehended that the plant would eventually turn the area dirty and spread diseases. The series of protests by the villagers delayed the project, which was earlier expected to start in April 2015 and complete by October 2015.
Executive officer with Chas corporation Krishna Kumar said 35 wards of Chas generated about 10 metric tonnes of garbage daily but due to unavailability of proper dump yard, the waste was thrown near highways or in forest land. Besides, unattended garbage has been a major reason behind water-logging in the township during the rains.
