(Top) Garbage dumped by BMC near Sunflower Nursing Home and Krupajaln Engineering Hostel at Buddha Nagar in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph pictures

Bhubaneswar, March 25: The phrase — tit for tat — seems to be the latest policy of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to deal with those polluting the city.

Acting tough against the offenders, BMC officers today dumped a truckload of garbage in front of a private nursing home and an engineering college hostel, which had been releasing sewer water into stormwater drains and causing pollution in the Buddha Nagar area.

Municipal commissioner Vishal Dev visited Buddha Nagar area under ward No. 48 this morning and ordered the BMC employees to dump garbage at these two places.

Local residents had complained to the BMC that the nursing home was discharging its biomedical waste into the nearby drain illegally while the hostel was releasing wastewater onto the road.

Dev said: “The violators had thought that they could get away with such activities forever making others suffer in the process. What we did today is just a warning and if they still do not follow the rules as prescribed under the Orissa Municipal Corporation Act, 2003, stringent action would be taken against them.”

Earlier, in January, the city health officer had written to the directorate of medical education and training (DMET) to cancel the license of the nursing home as it had refused to mend its ways despite several notices.

The councillor of ward No. 48 (Gautam Nagar and Buddha Nagar) Kishore Kumar Mohanty said the authorities of the nursing home were discharging the waste into the stormdrains choking them frequently.

Residents of the area had also complained of foul smell emanating from the drains several times.

“I informed the civic authorities after my pleas made to the nursing home went unnoticed. The matter went to the ward officers’ forum. The officials of the State Pollution Control Board were also informed about the problem,’’ Mohanty said.

“The local residents have alleged that they have noticed stray dogs eating placenta near the nursing home. If it is true then the offence would be even more serious,” added a senior health officer of the BMC.

The BMC health team also dumped garbage in front of the engineering college hostel, which had continued to defy the White and Red notices issued by the BMC officials for the violation of civic rules.

The White and Red notices are issued if the violations impinge upon public life. Such notices can be accompanied by demands for fine.

In a similar move last January, the BMC officials had plonked garbage in front of an apartment complex in Unit IX area for violating the civic rules.

“The orders to dump garbage in front of the premises of the violators are issued by the municipal commissioner as a corrective measure so that the people polluting their surroundings would realise their fault,” said city health officer Ashok Panda.

Apart from the nursing home and hostel, a dhaba has also been served a showcause notice as it was dumping all its waste in the nearby drain choking it,” said a health official adding that violators could be punished under Sections 649 and 650 of the Orissa Municipal Corporation Act, 2003.

One of the health inspectors involved the drive against the violators said that they could perform better if the BMC offered better incentives. “Earlier we were given Rs 1,000 for conveyance, but now all that has stopped,” he said.