Aafrin Kidwai 
The Bidhannagar (Salt Lake City) Municipal Corporation has stopped dumping garbage at the environmentally sensitive Mollar Bheri ground and will dispose of its waste at the Dhapa facility. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has granted it permission to redirect the waste to Dhapa till February while Bidhannagar civic officials looks for another dump site.
The Times of India reports that the Bidhannagar civic body is in the process of selecting an agency to dispose of the existing garbage pile at Mollar Bheri within ten months. It has also started heavily focussing on raising public awareness on garbage segregation at source to reduce the amount of waste sent to the dump yard.
Earlier this year, as reported by solidwasteindia.com, the National Green Tribunal had fined the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation for failing to comply with its order to cordon off the dumping site to prevent contamination of East Calcutta Wetlands. The civic body had also been asked to pay Rs 2 crore to the Central Pollution Control Board with an additional Rs 50 lakh as performance guarantee, which will be refunded if the Corporation cordons off the dumping site and prepares a detailed action plan on solid waste disposal and management.
Picture Credit: Biswarup Ganguly, Sector-V Saltlake – Kolkata 7809, CC BY 3.0
