Berhampur Sept. 4: Residents of Mahuda, eight kilometer from the city, registered their protest against setting up of an integrated solid waste management plant in the area.

A public hearing was organised today by the district administration and Odisha State Pollution Control Board to elicit the opinion of the local people.

P.K. Mahapatra, regional director of Odisha State Pollution Control Board, Berhampur, and Sitanshu Kumar Rout, additional district magistrate of Ganjam, conducted the meeting.

“The proposed plant will pollute the water body and the air. It will cause damage to the nearby paddy fields,” said a villager. They said that the land was earmarked for the construction of a hospital when former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao represented Berhampur in the Lok Sabha.

“We are ready to accept any other project but not this waste management plant,” the residents said.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had laid the foundation stone of the Rs 40-crore project on October 3 last year. A Baroda-based company is supposed to execute the project.

“We will submit our report to the ministry of environment within one week,” said Mahapatra. He also sought the suggestions of the Berhampur Municipal Corporation officials about the pollution concern of the residents. The public hearing has been videographed as per law, he said.

The project needs clearance from the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority based on recommendation of the state expert appraisal committee.

Anjana Panda, civic body commissioner, however, said that the project would cause no environmental hazards. “There is no river or other water body within 500 metres of the site. There is a pond, but that is also one kilometre away from the site. The proposed plant will be covered from all sides. Residents should not have any problem with the plant,” she said.