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Bhubaneswar, Aug. 10: Wetlands inside the city are no longer safe. While the entire stretch of wetland on Ratha Road, connecting Mausima Temple Square and Lingaraj Temple, was partly converted into housing colonies, another patch of wetland is being filled in an attempt to reclaim it.
Earth and waste material is being dumped into the wetland so that a house may be built on it. The waste is actually municipal garbage.
“It is like a slow process of grabbing the land reclaimed from a wetland. If the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) do not take stringent steps, no wetland will be spared,” said Piyush Ranjan Rout, an activist who works for urban planning and management.
“A smaller municipal corporation in Berhampur is now transforming dying water bodies and wetlands into living ecosystems. The capital must follow the example and do something extraordinary,” he added.
Local councillor Hemalata Bisoi said the wetland belongs to a private landowner and he might build a house there. The councillor seems unaware of BDA regulations, as these do not permit building of houses on wetlands.
She also could not explain how solid waste is being dumped on the wetland even though the area is not a designated dumping zone.
Planning member, BDA, Prashant Kumar Patnaik said: “Whether government or private land, building permission is not granted on wetlands. The entire wetland along Ratha Road is now a residential area. Stringent action needs to be taken so that the illegal building of houses can be checked. If the building of houses in wetlands is not controlled there would be a sharp fall in the water table in the city.”
Retired professor of geology, Utkal University, N. K. Mahalik said: “The civic and development authorities should have high regard for wetlands and there must be a mechanism for vigilance to check any such violation and building of houses on wetlands.”
Deputy municipal commissioner Priyadarshi Mohapatra admitted that once the entire area along Ratha Road was covered with colocassia and ferns and there was water flowing beneath. The wetland is part of the natural drainage channel No. 7.
“We are not sure whether the dumping site is government or private property, but the BMC sanitation staff are not involved in the dumping. We will inquire into the matter. However, permission for building plans in the wetland falls under the purview of the BDA and we have no say in this,” he added.