Bhubaneswar: The housing and urban development department has directed the municipal corporation to submit complete information on the status of the proposed waste-to-energy plant at the dumping yard in Bhuasuni on the city outskirts.

The department has provided a format to the civic body and asked it to submit the details so that steps can be initiated for taking the project forward. The project has been hanging fire for the past three years for various reasons, including opposition from the residents of the nearby Daruthenga village.

"The waste-to-energy plant is one of the ambitious projects of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC). Bhubaneswar has been chosen for the project since the city generates a huge pile of garbage and is capable of generating energy from waste. However, the project is not moving ahead for several reasons," said an official of urban development department.

He said that looking at the snail's pace of execution and the bottlenecks in the projects, it was decided to take steps to put the plant project on track.

"The civic body has been asked to submit details following which a high level committee will be formed to look after smooth execution of the plant," the official said.

According to the format provided by the housing and urban development department, the civic body will mention the amount of garbage being generated in the city on a yearly basis and also calculate energy potential of the solid waste. It will also mention the bottlenecks of the projects so far.

The Telegraph has reported several times about the non-execution of the waste-to-energy plant that has not only hounded the civic body when it comes to management of the solid waste, but also resulted in city's poor performance in the recently concluded national level cleanliness survey - Swachh Survekshan.

"We are ready to take up the project but it is hanging fire due to several reasons. People are not supporting us in our initiative. They are not understanding that the waste-to-energy plant will not only help us in proper management of the waste and save the environment but also help generate employment," said a civic body official.

Ever since the civic body planned to set up the waste-to-energy plant inside the Bhuasuni dumping yard in 2008, it has been facing problems, which include local protest, high court and National Green Tribunal stay orders and show cause notices from the state pollution control board.

"There is no safe dumping of the garbage in the yard that results in the environment getting polluted. Our sons and daughters are suffering from various diseases due to the unhygienic environment of the dumping yard. We are not against the civic body's plan but they need to ensure safe practice," said Daruthenga rersident Prashant Routray.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said the civic body had been making efforts to put the waste-to-energy plant project on track, but it has failed to progress due to the opposition of local residents.

"We will submit the status report of the project to the government and hope that the help of the urban development department takes it forward," said Jena.