Garbage dumped at a temporary site near Unit-VI ground by the sanitation wing of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation. On the left is a football goalpost. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, June 11: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and public works department (PWD) has transformed a playground in ward No. 45 behind Unit-VI Boys’ High School into the resting place for tonnes of trash.

This has invited strong protests from local residents, who are shocked because in the city open spaces and playgrounds are at a premium.

Sources said the civic body had initially planned to lift the garbage from the playground, being used as a transit dumping yard, to Bhuasuni everyday. The sanitation contractor was also given charge of this job. However, this has not been happening.

To make matters worse, the contractors engaged by the PWD have also started dumping construction and building waste at the site posing serious environmental and health concerns and causing a lot of inconvenience for youngsters who play on the ground.

Ashok Sahu, a businessman residing at Unit-VI, said: “The civic authority’s decision to use the playground as a transit dumping yard was a bad one. Initially, the garbage used to be cleared from the ground on a regular basis. However, for the past few days this has not been happening. These days the PWD are dumping trash even at night. This is a serious offence and they should be penalised.”

Another local resident Biswajit Mohapatra echoed Sahu’s words. He said: “Authorities of the civic body and PWD should take action on the contractors responsible for dumping the garbage. They have violated their service conditions and are polluting the place, which is behind the Capital Hospital.”

Subhakanta Swain, an engineering student and local resident, said: “The ground is the only open space available in Unit-VI. It is used as a playground, for public meetings, to organise Ravan podi, football and night cricket matches and for other recreational activities. So, the authorities should respect the local sentiments and clear the trash off the field. However, on the contrary they are the ones who are polluting the environment by dumping all the trash here.”

Pranab Kishore Swain, councillor of ward No. 45 admitted that the BMC contractor concerned was indeed not clearing some amount of garbage. However, he blamed the PWD contractors for dumping additional building materials on the ground.

“I, along with many local youths, have caught them dumping the building wastes on the ground several times. The BMC contractors are not supposed to lift construction waste. Though the PWD contractors know this, they are still dumping the building materials on the ground and violating rules. I will inform the higher authorities in the BMC about the nuisance created by PWD contractors,” he said.

Swain also said as the playground belongs to the school and mass education department, they should take some responsibility and erect a strong boundary wall around the ground to prevent the authorities from dumping trash.

“We tried to erect a wall with the help from the local people, but could not do much as raising funds was a uphill task,” he added.

City health officer Chandrika Prasad Das said the BMC had no option but to dump garbage on the playground, at least for the time being, as no other suitable site was found to replace the present one.