Other States - Orissa   

Court pulls up Cuttack, Bbubaneswar civic bodies for poor solid waste management

CUTTACK: Orissa High Court on Thursday came down heavily on the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) for their poor solid waste management and gross violation of the Central Government formulated Municipality Solid Waste Management and Handling Rules-2000.

While the commissioners of both the municipal corporations personally appeared before the court and submitted status reports about the steps taken by them to mange the solid wastes generated from each city, the bench of Chief Justice A K Ganguly and Justice Indrajit Mohanty was not satisfied with their replies. Terming the status reports are nothing but eyewash, the bench asked the commissioners to file separate affidavits giving exhaustive details about the steps taken by each municipality in fulfilling the norms prescribed in the Central Rules within two weeks.

The High Court also appointed two advocates of the court to conduct personal investigations into the procedures followed by the two municipalities in managing the solid wastes starting from collection of wastes to treating them at dump yards.

While senior advocate Sanjit Mohanty was appointed for Cuttack, advocate Akhil Chandra Mohapatra is appointed for Bhubaneswar.

Both of them would file their reports to the court by September 30, the bench ordered.

A Bhubaneswar based resident had filed a PIL in the High Court alleging that the two civic bodies that were upgraded to the status of Corporations in 2003 have failed to perform their statutory duties while violating the Central Government Rules.

"The Centre in 2000 had specifically asked the municipalities to take adequate scientific measures by December 2003 to manage the solid wastes generated from the cities. But the Cuttack Municipal Corporation and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation have not taken any steps yet in this regard", the petitioner alleged.

The petition further said that due to absence of a proper management of wastes, both the cities are witnessing acute pollution.

Moreover, due to choking of drains due to solid wastes, both the cities are witnessing water logging during monsoon, the petition said.

According to official sources, Cuttack city generates about 264 MT of solid wastes per day while 290 MT of solid wastes are generated in Bhubaneswar per day.

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