Bhubaneswar faces garbage crisis amid protest over dumpyard

Many areas of Bhubaneswar are stinking with garbage as a deadlock over the dumping of waste into a designated yard led to pile up of litter in localities.

Residents of Daruthenga panchayat, a few kilometers away from the city, have not been allowing trucks of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to dump waste at the Bhuasuni dumpyard for the past two weeks over various demands.

This resulted in a domino effect as the temporary transit station in the Odisha capital brimmed with garbage, leading to dumping trucks being unable to collect waste from the bins.

Many streets in residential areas were stinking with litter scattered around the bins, which were full to capacity. The problem was compounded by intermittent rain and workers of some private agencies stopping waste collection over payment issues.

Although the workers have resumed work, the stalemate continued on Saturday as talks with the Daruthenga sarpanch and the BMC did not lead to any major breakthrough.

"The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere and we held good discussions with a positive mind. The problem will be resolved very soon," Mayor Sulochana Das told reporters.

Daruthenga sarpanch Tapan Chakravarty said a gram sabha would be called and details of the meeting would be discussed with the villagers, adding that he would inform their decision after two days.

"The BMC sought a time of nine months as it cannot do biomining right now until the waste is cleared from the dumpyard," he said.

Biomining is the excavation, segregation and treatment of old solid waste in dumpsites through scientific means. Valuable resources like plastics, clothes and bricks are recovered, followed by the waste's sustainable management via recycling and processing.

Congress MLA Suresh Rourtray, under whose constituency Daruthenga falls, said villagers wanted to resolve the issue.

"Bhubaneswar is a beautiful city and machines will be installed to manage the waste. Daruthenga will also be neat and clean," he said after attending the meeting.

Residents of Daruthenga have been protesting since 2008 when the BMC started dumping waste at Bhuasuni, which is nearby.

The mayor had said earlier that the BMC wanted to dispose of each ward's waste in the ward itself and convert it into compost, but that would take some time.

BMC commissioner Vijay Amruta Kulange had said the civic body was very serious about the installation of micro composting centres to increase the capacity of processing garbage.

The BJP had protested in front of the BMC office on Friday, throwing garbage in front of the premises and raising slogans against the mayor.

"There is litter everywhere. Do we feel like living in a smart city?" a BJP leader asked, pointing out that Das had promised after becoming the mayor that she would make Bhubaneswar the No. 1 smart city.