Bhubaneswar, March 22: The city is marching towards realising its 'smart' dream with several key steps to overhaul its entire façade. The civic administration has put emphasis on ensuring cleanliness in the capital as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's push to the Swachh Bharat Mission.
The reality, however, is quite different.
Huge quantities of waste, including plastic materials, are being dumped on the roadside and parks. Wastes also lie dumped at the Indira Gandhi Park, a stone's throw from the secretariat.
Despite the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation undertaking a cleanness drive, dumping of waste materials, particularly plastic bottles and polythene, has become a concern for the administration.
Housing and urban development minister Puspendra Singh Deo said: "The government plans to bring a plastic waste management by-law for proper management of plastic materials."
According to statistics available with the department, Bhubaneswar generates 336 tonne of waster per day, the highest in the state.
Neeraj Rath, waste management expert with an IT major, said: "It must be made mandatory for apartments with more than 10 flats to purchase compost machines and use them to grow plants to decorate the premises."
He said: "In case someone puts non-biodegradable dry waste such as plastic and rubber in the compost, then it will impact the environment. It might generate leachates (the liquid that drains or 'leaches' from a landfill), which will damage the soil quality and may also mix with groundwater to pollute the environment."
This practice would lead to contaminating water that comes in through bore wells installed on the premises and put the apartment residents themselves at risk.
In February 2016, the Union urban development ministry adjudged Bhubaneswar as one of the country's cleanest cities. Quality Council of India had carried out the Swachh Survekshan sanitation survey on behalf of the ministry across 75 cities in India.
Following on from that success, the city administration took several steps to ensure victory in the Swachh Survekshan II survey that was conducted recently with an emphasis on social media. It also organised street-corner meetings to create awareness about the survey and increase participation.
Rath said: "All types of food waste cannot be used as compost. There are many types of food waste to compost machines available. These can be used by households, restaurants, hotels, hostels, canteens and apartment complexes."
All fish and meat sellers must use specially-designed washable bags for selling fish and meat products. Once we put a cost on the carry bag usage, people will start carrying old, reusable and washable bags to the market. All the cut pieces and residues from the market should be disposed of in the red bin so that those can be used for composting.
He also suggested biodegradable bags. "As India is becoming a high-polluted country, it's time to take steps to change the environment and make it healthy," he said.
At present, the civic body dumps waste materials on the outskirts at Daruthenga. It collects, in collaboration with a private sanitation agency, garbage from 35 points and dumps it near Sainik School, from where it is transported to the Bhuasuni yard.
A civic official said: "We have a proposal to set up an energy plant, where this garbage can be treated, in the next three years. Once the waste to energy plant is set up at Daruthenga, an energy park will come up."
