By Sanjeev Kumar Patro
Bhubaneswar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched this ambitious Swachch Bharat Mission to clean up India on October 2014. Ten years have passed. Moreover, under the Swachch Bharat Mission 2.0 (2019-2025), the Union government has rolled out a plan to make the cities free from garbage dumps. Four years passed, only 1 more year left. Here's a reality check on Odisha.
The Swachch Bharat mission 2.0, data available with the Union Urban Development Ministry narrates a stinking story for the State.
Dumpsites in cities in the State are proving nauseating for the city denizens. The legacy waste management in State Capital has been in a serious mess, let aside the lesser mundane cities. Only recently, the BMC faced the wrath of denizens over the foul smell making life hellish in around the dumpsites areas at Gadakana Mouza, Mancheswar, Dhirikuti Slum, VSS Nagar and Rangamatia.
In the given context, data from the SBM 2.0 raises many an eyebrow.
LANDFILL SITES – A DUMP HILL
Data shows Odisha sitting on Garbage Mountain. The State is living with a massive 41.65 lakh tonne of legacy waste – the wastes that keep piling up over the decades at dumpsites across the state. A total of 93 dumpsites have been identified in the State that occupies a whopping area of 454.23 acre.
The shocker for the State is in the parameter of legacy waste to be remediated, which means removing these waste dumps from land occupied, and thereby, preventing the garbage dumps accumulated over the years pollute the land, life and air around, the State languishes at the bottom. Data reveals a whopping 62 percent of legacy wastes in Odisha waiting for remediation. The State is at the7th dubious spot from bottom.
Here is the list of States sitting on Garbage Bombs.
- Jammu & Kashmir : 100 % of legacy waste need remediation
- Karnataka : The software capital state in India sits on over 173 LT of legacy wastes with zero remediation
- Jharkhand : Only 3% of 31 LT legacy waste remediated.
- West Bengal: 94% not remediated.
- Madhya Pradesh: 76% to be remediated
- Bihar: 68%
- Odisha: 62% of 41.65 LT of legacy wastes need remediation
LEGACY WASTE: ‘CAPITAL’ PROBLEM
The State capital Bhubaneswar, as per the data available with SBM 2.0, has only one dumpsite where a whopping 16 lakh tone of legacy waste has been piled up.
On the contrary, the ground data here suggests of landfill sites at four places in the city at Gadkana mouza, Mancheswar, Dhirikuti Slum, VSS Nagar and Rangamatia.
The data, however, reveals from 1 dumpsite in Bhubaneswar, only 4 lakh tone of legacy waste from a hill of 16LT, has been remediated. A massive pile of 11.86 LT is lying even today. The legacy waste to be remediated stood at a high of 68%.
CUTTACK SCENARIO MORE WORRYING
The SBM data pops up a more worrying scenario in the silver city. With a single dumpsite in the city, pile of 6.85 LT garbage has been accumulated over the years, despite SBM 2.0 being in implementation, not a single kilo of garbage dumped in the city of Cuttack has been remediated. Garbage remediation and land reclamation have been in a poor shape in the silver city, data reveals.
SACRED PURI, PROFANE WASTE MANAGEMENT
The sacred temple town of Puri stands no better. The SBM data shows the temple city having only one dumpsite, and the piled up garbage over the years is weighed at 1.01 LT. The remediation of legacy waste has been mere 0.31 LT as on today.
NAME one, and one will be surprised to learn to find them all. Be it Rourkela or Sambalpur or Berhampur, the piling up of legacy waste continue, but remediation process has been very-very tardy.
TURNAROUND TIME FOR NEW BJP GOVT
The legacy waste management in the State may make a turnaround, provided the State govt perks up the investments on waste management. Here are the examples that tell why the legacy waste in Odisha has grown up to mountain of challenge.
THE CAPITAL STORY
The poor remediation of garbage dumps in the State Capital has been due to zero biomethanation plants established in the city to manage the solid waste. Though the city has 37 waste to compost plant, which are the low capacity solid waste management plants.
SAMPLE THIS. When Bhubaneswar, also the State Capital, has a population of 12 lakh, Adoni , an important town in Kurnool district has a population of 16 lakh. Despite burdened with mere 0.66 LT legacy waste, the city has one biomethantion plant to recycle solid waste and free the garbage dumps, Bhubaneswar saddling with 16LT legacy waste has ZERO biomethantion plant.
