Residents of Sheeshambada area protested at Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB) regional office against the solid waste management and recycling plant which has been operating for five months without No Objection Certificate (NOC).
The protestors entered gheraoed the UEPPCB regional officer and questioned him about how the corporation was still dumping garbage at the plant which was functioning without an NOC for months now.
They also told regional officer Amit Pokhriyal that they are suffering for the past three years due to the mismanagement of the waste management plant in the area and they will not leave unless they are assured in writing that NOC will not be renewed for the plant.
The regional officer did not provide any such assurance but on their insistence, he gave them a copy of the plant’s inspection report prepared by the UEPPCB.
The report states that during the inspection there was no arrangement for the leachate generated from landfill site which was flowing through the drain from one side of the site and getting accumulated on the other side during rain.
There was no storage facility for the different kinds of waste material and all were decanted together. It is also mentioned in the report that Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) was not operational during the inspection and had not been operating since last 15 days as per the project in charge.
The issue of foul-smell is also mentioned in the report.
One of the protesters Sunny Sundriyal alleged, “Every department is involved in this mess. How the MCD is still running the plant even after such a clear report is questionable.”
Geeta Devi, one of the residents of Sheeshambada said, “I protested near solid waste management and recycling plant for one week and I have got skin allergy all over the body. It is not just me, other women have also developed skin allergies. Moreover, our kids are getting sick every week too, we cannot keep visiting the doctor regularly because of this plant. Is this waste management plant more important than human lives?”
Usha Chetri, one of the protestors said, “The noise of machine never stops at the plant. It is always working which makes it difficult for children to focus on their studies or get proper sleep. Every type of garbage is dumped whether it is wet, dry or dead animals like cows, dogs, cats in our neighbourhood due to which we can’t even open our windows.”
“Initially we were told that there would be one layer of waste and one layer of soil which will help in the decomposition of garbage without any issue, but everything is dumped together due to which the whole area smells horrible. Even the guests have stopped coming to our house due to the unbearable stench that lingers there day and night,” added Rajesh Sharma.
Municipal Commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey had recently rejected the claims of the protesting locals. According to him, there is no foul smell and disease-causing germs on the site. Enzymes are sprayed six times a day to sterilise the place.
