Balasore, April 29: Choked drains and heaps of garbage on the roadside continue to cause inconvenience to residents here because of the lack of a suitable dumping site.

With the expansion of the town and commercial activities, the quantity of solid waste generation has tripled in the past five years. Though the municipality received Rs 2crore for solid waste treatment nearly a couple of years ago, not much has been done so far.

Garbage being ferried carelessly in open tractors to the dumping grounds near Chunbhatti (close to Gopalgaon) is a common sight. “The non-availability of a suitable dumping site is the only reason. We are looking for an alternative patch of land in the outskirts of the town since the present dumping site at Chunbhatti has already reached the point of saturation. We cannot continue dumping waste as there are certain restrictions laid down by the pollution control board,” said Sudhansu Nayak, executive engineer of Balasore municipality.

Although a patch of fallow land had been identified near Remuna and at Hidigaon in Chandipur, there has been no progress in this regard. While the site at Remuna did not secure approval of the pollution control board for being a low area, the other spot had to be abandoned due to political interference, said Nayak.

“Again, we had decided to set up the waste treatment plant at Naharpatna and had sought approval of the pollution control board but even that did not materialise,” Nayak said, adding that the municipality has asked tehsildars of Balasore, Remuna and Soro to identify a patch of land, even though it might be just five acres.

Regional Pollution Control Board officer L.D. Pal, however, said that sites referred to them were not approved on technical grounds.

“The site at Naharpatna was a low lying area and was close to River Budhabalanga. There is every possibility of water being contaminated, especially during the monsoon. Besides technical defects, the villagers had opposed the proposal,” said Pal.

Along with a daily household waste of around 72 tonnes, three tonnes of medical trash from 20 nursing homes is also occasionally dumped in Chunbhatti, which pose a serious threat to health and hygiene. Even a brief shower leads to the overflowing of dirty water from the patch to the localities nearby.

“There is every possibility of a breakout of waterborne or airborne diseases. The people in the locality are vulnerable to respiratory ailments like tuberculosis and asthma. There is an urgent need to address the issue,” said Ashok Panigrahi, a retired professor of Fakir Mohan College and an environmentalist.

Hospital authorities however claimed that they had their own waste management system. “We have our own treatment plant in the DHH premises where we manage our waste effectively under the supervision of a Bhubaneswar-based agency,” said hospital manager Sriram Mohanty.

Sadly, the municipal authorities’ initiative to send workers in uniform to collect garbage from the doorsteps also ceased within a few months of launching the drive.

“The private agencies who were assigned to supervise this task withdrew and we have called for a fresh tender process,” said an official of the municipality.

Original

SIBDAS KUNDU

Balasore, April 28: Choked drains and heaps of garbage on the roadside continue to cause a great deal of inconvenience to the residents, all due to the lack of a suitable dumping site.

With the expansion of the town and commercial activities, the quantum of solid waste generation has tripled in five years. Worse, although the municipality had received funds worth Rs 2 crore for solid waste treatment nearly two years ago, not much has been done so far.

Garbage being ferried carelessly in open tractors to the dumping grounds near Chunbhatti (close to Gopal gaon) is a common sight. “The non-availability of a suitable dumping site is the only reason. We are looking for an alternative patch of land in the outskirts of the town since the present dumping site at Chunbhatti has already reached a point of saturation. We cannot continue dumping waste as there are certain restrictions laid down by the pollution control board,” informed Sudhansu Nayak, executive engineer of Balasore municipality.

Although a patch of fallow land had been identified near Remuna and at Hidigaon in Chandipur, there has been no progress in this regard. While the site at Remuna did not secure the approval of the pollution control board for being a low lying ground, the other spot had to be abandoned due to political interference, said Nayak.

“Again, we had decided to set up the waste treatment plant in Naharpatna and had sought approval of the pollution control board but even that did not materialize,” Nayak said, adding the municipality has asked tehsildars of Balasore, Remuna and Soro to identify a patch of land, even though it might be just five acres.

The regional pollution control board officer L.D. Pal, however, said that sites referred to them were not approved on technical grounds.

“The site at Naharpatna was also a low lying area and was close to the river Budhabalanga. There is every possibility of water being contaminated, especially during the monsoon. Besides technical defects, the villagers had opposed the proposal,” said Pal.

Alongwith a daily household waste of around 72 tonnes, three tones of medical trash from 20 nursing homes is also occasionally dumped in Chunbhatti which pose serious threat to health and hygiene. Even a brief shower leads to overflowing of dirty water from the patch to the localities nearby.

“There is every possibility of a breakout of waterborne or airborne diseases. The people in the locality are vulnerable to respiratory ailments like tuberculosis and asthma. There is an urgent need to address the issue,” said Ashok Panigrahi, a retired professor of Fakir Mohan College and an environmentalist.

The hospital authorities however claimed they have their own waste management system. “We have our own treatment plant in the DHH premises where we manage our waste effectively under the supervision of a Bhubaneswar-based agency,” said the hospital manager, Sriram Mohanty .

Sadly, the municipal authorities’ initiative to send workers in uniform to collect garbage from the doorsteps also ceased within a few months of launching the drive.

“As the private agencies who were assigned to supervise this task withdrew and we have called for a fresh tender process,” said an official of the municipality.