NGT Asks Puri Municipality To Remove Waste From Baliapanda Dumping Yard In 2 Years

Cuttack: The National Green Tribunal (NGT), east zone bench, Kolkata has directed Puri municipality to remove the waste, lying dumped at Baliapanda for over three decades, by December 31, 2025.

“The Puri municipality, shall ensure construction of a boundary wall around the dumping site in question to secure the area to prevent spillover of waste outside the area and shall take immediate steps to ensure complete eradication of foul smell on a day-to-day basis through spraying and other methodology as per the standard operating procedures,” the bench of Justice B Amit Sthalekar and Dr Afroz Ahmad said.

Hearing a petition filed by Chinmaya Das, a resident of Puri, seeking intervention against dumping of waste in Baliapanda within 100 metres of the sea beach, the tribunal further said that the waste material should be lifted from the area after proper treatment. “To bring out the permanent and clear solution, a project with time-bound action plan should be framed by the concerned department of Odisha government and another vast area far away from the town locality of Puri should be identified and developed as per guideline of CPCB,” the NGT order read.

“After completion of the new site, the present practices at Baliapanda dumping yard can be stopped gradually and the day to day problem can be sorted out in the course of time,” it added.

In an affidavit, the Puri collector stated that Puri municipality is no longer dumping waste at Baliapanda though it was used as a dumping site from 1984 till 2019. Since the 2019 SOP issued by the housing & urban development department, it has adopted a decentralised waste processing method and constructed micro composting centres and material recovery facility.

The bench, however, said that matters relating to unauthorised colonies close to the dumping site need to be addressed. The Puri municipality have been asked to shift those to curb incidents of persons throwing burning cigarettes or other inflammable material into the dumping site, leading to fires.

It has also directed for installation of CCTV cameras, covering the entire dumping site within three months, to check unauthorised entry of vagrants and others. It has asked the municipality to initiate criminal action against those found near the dumping site or starting fires.