Bhubaneswar: In the wake of the inauguration of a garbage treatment plant completed around eight months ago in Palasuni area by irate locals, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has lodged a complaint with the police against a local organisation for ‘forcibly’ making the unit operational.
Sources said that the civic body on Monday lodged a police complaint against members of ‘Bhubaneswar Unnayan Parishad’ (BUP) for allegedly entering the new waste processing unit and inaugurating it in the presence of around 500 people.
The outfit, which has been fighting against waste dumping by BMC near Sainik School, was quoted by TOI as saying that it inaugurated the plant as its operation will help clear waste from the dump yard. BMC described the move as intrusion and criminal action as it has already planned the inauguration.
In its complaint lodged at Mancheswar Police Station, the BMC said that a large group of unknown individuals led by Basudev Bhatta, president of BUP, and its members unlawfully and forcefully entered the premises of the facility and engaged in violent protest. The intruders violated various provisions of BNS and BMC staff present at the unit were also threatened, the complaint alleged.
The plant at Palasuni includes a 150-tonne per day (TPD) capacity mega material recovery facility (MRF), a processing unit for 10,000 coconuts per day, and 20 TPD green waste processing units. The construction work was complete, and BMC was slated to inaugurate it.
“When the BUP members led by Bhatta met us, we assured them of running the Palasuni facility soon. But, they took law into their hands,” BMC additional commissioner Suvendu Sahu was quoted by TOI as saying.
However, Bhatta refuted the BMC allegation that the BUP members unlawfully barged into the premises and threatened staff. The organisation further stated that the garbage dump near Sainik School, where 350 metric tonnes of waste is processed daily, has made living conditions unbearable for the residents.
