Solid waste being burnt in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, May 16: Smell something burning? It could be a pile of solid municipal waste set on fire by sweepers or perhaps your neighbour. In spite of warnings, sanitation workers and city residents have been setting piles of garbage on fire, raising environmental concerns.

City health officer Chandrika Prasad Das said that during his regular inspection rounds, he had come across a number of such incidents.

“Despite frequent warnings, sweepers have been burning garbage heaps. We have penalised some of the contractors engaged in waste collection and disposal,” said Das. He said it was also common to find residents setting garbage piles in front of their homes on fire.

Municipal commissioner Vishal Kumar Dev had directed the city health officer to take stringent action against sanitation contractors and other persons responsible for it. Dev had received several complaints of open burning of solid waste in wards where sanitation is managed by a private concern as well as in those where BMC workers collect garbage. Sanitation is managed by a private concern in 51 of BMC’s 60 wards, whereas the remaining nine wards are looked after by BMC staff. It is common to find sweepers setting garbage on fire after collecting it. The garbage not only contains dry leaves but also various plastic materials. There are nearly 1,300 temporary transit points from where garbage is collected and then transported to six interim transit stations. The city generates nearly 400 tonnes of solid waste every day.

It is common to find piles of garbage being burnt at parks in the city. Morning walkers in Indira Gandhi Park located in the heart of the city are witness to burning piles of waste almost every day. Sometimes, the flames leap so high that you can be forgiven for mistaking it for a fire mishap.

“In the morning, you can spot open burning of waste at various places. Not just dry leaves, plastic material too are set on fire,” said Saddashib Behera, a resident of Laxmisagar, who goes for a morning walk in the area every day.

The State Pollution Control Board, too, had received several such complaints in the past. “Every time we receive a complaint, we inform the BMC. In the matter of municipal solid waste management, BMC’s performance has been very poor,” said member secretary of the Pollution Control Board Siddhanta Das. He said this practice was illegal and harmful to the environment as it released toxins into the atmosphere.

City-based urban management experts said the corporation should adopt a well-formulated policy for solid waste management. “Open burning of waste suggests that the persons responsible for it are not aware of the environmental threats. It can also cause rise in temperature, especially in the summer. The BMC must stop this practice as soon as possible,” said Piyush Ranjan Rout, a city-based urban management expert.