Villagers 'manhandle' Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation officer over dumping of waste

BHUBANESWAR: Villagers of Daruthenga on the outskirts of the city on Wednesday allegedly manhandled city health officer Chandrika Prasad Das while he was trying to convince them to allow dumping of municipal solid waste at the designated site at Bhuasuni.
The villagers had been opposing dumping of garbage at Bhuasuni for the last 15 days. The stand-off between the villagers and the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has led to piling up of around 2,000 metric tonne of garbage at the temporary transfer station (TTS) near Sainik School here.
To know the ground situation, Das followed the garbage transportation trucks to the site in his vehicle.However, the villagers, who had gathered at the spot, pelted the vehicles with stone. Though none was hurt in the incident, a case was registered at Chandaka police station against the villagers. "I had discussions with the villagers on Tuesday night following which I decided to go to the spot. But the villagers didn't allow us to dump garbage at the designated site," Das told TOI. He has informed BMC commissioner Krishna Kumar about the incident, he added.
In 2005, the government allotted 62 acres at Bhuasuni to BMC for dumping of waste. The civic body signed an MoU with a Mumbai-based company for setting up a waste processing unit after an additional 12 acre was allotted for the purpose last year. According to the current practice, garbage is transferred to Bhuasuni from the TTS. This violates the municipal solid waste (management and handling) rules, 2000, which states that the garbage should be dumped to the designated site.