Many parts of the “smart” capital city have virtually turned into garbage dumps with the villagers of Daruthenga panchayat banning the entry of solid waste disposal trucks of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) for last 13 days demanding immediate bio-mining of the wastes dumped there.
As the civic body has failed to keep its words, the villagers have not been allowing BMC trucks to dump the waste at Bhuasuni dump yard for the last few weeks.
Besides, the matter turned into a faceoff between the locals and the civic body following the death of a youth who died after being hit by a waste-laden dumper nearly two weeks ago.. Irate locals stopped the entry of garbage trucks to the dump yard for around two weeks, sources said.
As a result, BMC has been dumping truckloads of garbage at the Temporary Transit Centre (TTC) near the Sainik School after the mishap for which the locals are complaining of foul smell and unhygienic environment.
Though the BMC officials have held couple of meetings with the Daruthenga locals, it didn’t yield any results.
BMC Mayor Sulochana Das said discussions are being held with the Daruthenga villagers and the issue would be resolved soon. The contracts with the three agencies which were lifting the garbage have expired. It would be renewed soon.
Some of the employees of these agencies have not been paid their salaries. Their no-cooperation due to this has also led to the piling of garbage at certain places, said Das.