Villagers protest waste treatment plant, scuffle with police

Bhubaneswar: Tension ran high on the outskirts of the capital city today after the irate villagers of Daruthenga had a scuffle with the police while protesting against setting up of a waste treatment plant near the village.

Reports said hundreds of villagers including women and children, led by Congress leader Suresh Routray rushed to the proposed plant site to stop the construction work immediately. But as the police prevented them from entering into the proposed site, a scuffle ensued.

“The stench smell emanating from the waste dump yard is intolerable. The older persons have developed respiratory problem due to this unhygienic and filthy environment while women of our village have given birth to abnormal and weak babies. Besides, cattle of our village are dying after eating polythene pouches and covers from this dump yard. We have made up our mind that henceforth, we would not to allow the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to dump disposal wastes near our village,” Daruthenga sarpanch Prashant Routray told media persons.

Blaming the BMC, an agitated woman said the children of the village are suffering from several diseases due to this dump yard. “Leave alone the children this dump yard will also kill us. We demand that there will be no dumping of wastes near our village,” she added.

The villagers said following their protest, BMC had decided to shift the dumping yard to Tulasideipur village. “When BMC is yet to shift the dump yard, why it has decided to construct the waste disposal plant near our village?” they asked.

Expressing his resentment, Congress leader Suresh Routray said the Centre has asked the state government to submit a report on dumping of waste disposals. But the state government has ignored the Central directive. The people of Daruthenga have been vehemently opposing the dump yard set up by the BMC near their village, he pointed out.

Asked about the matter, BMC Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said the waste treatment plant is being set up in coordination with all departments and with the opinion from the people of the locality to ensure that the proposed plant will not pose any problem to anyone.

“I would request the people to cooperate with the BMC in setting up of the plant successfully to ensure clean environment in and around the capital city,” he added.