The locals of Sheeshambada have started an indefinite period protest outside the Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB) on Wednesday regarding the functioning of the solid waste management and recycling plant which has been operating for more than five months without No Objection Certificate (NOC).
The locals alleged that UEPPCB is deliberately ignoring the nuisance created by Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) and Ramky Company in the waste management plant in Sheeshambada.
According to the residents, Ramky Company and few officials of MCD are in connivance with UEPPCB and that is why the board has not taken any action against them in spite of improper operation of the plant and that too without No Objection Certificate (NOC).“Everyone knows that the plant in Sheeshambada is operating without NOC for more than six months now.
Why has the NOC not been approved or rejected so far? If everything is fine in the plant according to pollution control board then sanction the NOC to MCD, if not then cancel it.
But they are not doing any of it as there are so many defects in plant operation that they cannot approve NOC and cannot reject it too because of their involvement with MCD,” alleged a local Pushpa Bhandari.
According to one of the locals Satpal Dhaniya, “The residents of Sheeshambada and nearby areas are really suffering a lot due to the mismanagement of the garbage in the plant. The Chief Minister had said while inaugurating the solid waste management and recycling plant that if the plant would cause any kind of trouble to the residents then it would be shifted somewhere else but it has been more than four years and we are still protesting against it.”
He further added that if no action is taken by the state government soon then they will start an indefinite period protest outside the CM’s residence and Vidhan Sabha.It is pertinent to mention here that last month,
the chairperson of State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) Usha Negi has also asked UEPPCB to respond to the notice issued regarding the foul smell and disease causing conditions near the waste management plant due to which the lives of local children are being affected on a daily basis.
If the board fails to respond within one month, Negi had warned of action against the board.