Berhampur, Dec. 16: The integrated solid waste management project faces court session as the local sarpanch has filed a case against the construction of the project on environmental grounds, at Mahuda, about 8km from here.
The project is worth Rs 70 crore and is undertaken by the Berhampur Municipal Corporation.
Anjana Panda, commissioner of the civic body, told The Telegraph: “We are trying to expedite the process of commissioning the project and it is likely to be launched within two months.”
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed with UPL Environmental Engineers Limited, a Baroda-based private agency, under public-private partnership mode.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had laid the foundation stone of the project on October 3 last year. The company will manage the waste of the city for next 20 years. The city generates about 146 tonnes of solid waste per day and it is likely to reach 250 tonnes in the next 30 years. The staff of the company will collect garbage in the city from door to door and dump it in 56 garbage points. The garbage will be transported to the Mahuda project.
“I am arranging a meeting with the UPL Environmental Engineers Limited and I hope the government will decide whether we will do it on our own or continue the project in the PPP mode,” Panda said.
“I have discussed the issue with the advocate general and have requested him for an early hearing for speedy disposal,” she said.
She said that the civic body would present its stand on the environmental issue. She hoped that it would get the clearance from the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority based on the recommendation of the state expert appraisal committee.
The corporation had insisted on the project during the public hearing of the district administration and the state pollution control board that was held at Bhairabi High School in Mahuda on September 4 this year.
The local people have said the land was earmarked for construction of a hospital when P.V. Narasimha Rao was the Member of Parliament from Berhampur. “We will never accept a solid waste management plant in the same place,” a resident said.
