Waste will be dumped in Chandrapur till new site found: Assam CM

GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said till a new site is found, waste would be dumped at Chandrapur. The Pollution Control Board of Assam (PCBA) had asked the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) to stop dumping solid waste at Chandrapur as it does not have an environment clearance from the authorities concerned.
“The National Green Tribunal had asked for the relocation of the dumping ground from Boragaon, which is adjacent to the freshwater lake, Deepor Beel.Garbage has to be removed otherwise diseases would be on the rise. The authorities are dumping waste in Chandrapur as there is no option right now,” the chief minister said. “At the same time, we are trying to find an alternate ground. But if we do not find another site immediately and Chandrapur locals do not allow us to dump waste, then Guwahati would report instances of Japanese Encephalitis, malaria, diarrhoea and children would be the worst affected.”
Asked about the problem faced by the locals of Chandrapur, the chief minister said, “If there is a conflict between Guwahati and Chandrapur — whom will you support? If we do not dispose of waste, if children die, will the people of Chandrapur be happy?”
Guwahati city, with a population of over one million, generates 550 tonnes per day of solid waste. A GMC official told TOI that it has applied to the PCBA for the authorization certificate under sub-rule (3) of rule 5 of the Hazardous Waste (Management, Handling and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2008 for collection/ reception/ treatment/ transport/ storage disposal of hazardous waste in Chandrapur. The shifting of the city's garbage dumping site from Boragaon in West Guwahati to Chandrapur on the eastern suburbs of the city, where a significant portion of the landscape still remains virgin, has led to the present crisis.