Dump yard’s garbage spills over boundary wall

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, July 31

Though the authorities concerned have decided to set up the solid waste management plant at Bhagtanwala dump yard despite protests by the residents of the surrounding localities, it seems the administration is on a back foot when it comes to maintaining hygiene on the site.

The residents of nearby localities at Bhagtanwala were up in arms against the civic body as the existing dumping site was posing a serious health hazard to them.

Due to absence of any check, tractor-trailers of the Municipal Corporation have started dumping garbage in the open. Ironically, the Asia’s biggest grain market is located just a few steps away from these overspilled mounds of garbage.

Sanjay Sharma, an affected resident, said constructing boundary wall to cover-up the dump yard would serve a little purpose. He said, “To avoid the hassle of dumping the garbage at designated spots, tractor-trailer drivers dump garbage outside the boundary wall. Besides posing a health hazard, it also hampers movement of vehicles and pedestrians.”

Another affected resident Nawal Chawla said he had seldom noticed any MC official fogging garbage mounds. He said, “As a matter of fact a majority of residents living around the dump are suffering from serious chest and respiratory disorders. The authorities are least bothered about the welfare of residents. Whenever the issue is raised, officials concerned take it lightly.”

Some portions of the dump yard are covered with a 16-foot-high boundary wall, whose construction has been left midway, apparently for want of funds. The government had sanctioned Rs 5 crore to complete the boundary wall, besides developing a green belt and spraying medicine on garbage heaps to maintain hygiene.

On December 21, Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi had handed over a cheque for Rs 2 crore to Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora on behalf of the Amritsar Improvement Trust. This amount was part of the special package of Rs 5 crore announced by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal for completing the boundary wall and setting up a green cover to make the site public friendly. The state government had sanctioned Rs 3 crore for the project while another Rs 2 crore was to be given by Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA).

JCB machines were pressed into service to level the dump yard. The idea was to suppress the ill effects of garbage mounds, besides compressing them to low lying spots. But the operation lasted for a short period.

According to the Municipal Solid Waste Norms 2000 a dumping yard has to be covered with a boundary wall with separate enter and exit passage for the garbage-laden tractor-trailers so that their movement does not disrupt passages in nearby residential localities. Similarly, the uneven surroundings need to be levelled and saplings of various plant varieties are to be planted to make the surroundings eco friendly.

MC Commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal said officials would be pulled up if the dumping was carried out in an unprofessional manner. He said, “We are bound to make the Bhagtanwala site hygienic as per the norms. The garbage has to be dumped inside the boundary wall of the dump yard. We have demarcated the area around boundary wall where the plantation will be carried out up to five metres of the periphery of the dump yard.”