Bhubaneswar: Braving rain, residents staged a protest at the Gadakana dumping yard Wednesday under the banner of ‘Alia Gada Hatao, Sainik School Banchao’, accusing the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) of failing to act on its promises. Led by Bhubaneswar Unnayan Parishad president Basudev Bhatt, the protesters held placards and raised slogans, demanding immediate removal of old waste and closure of the site.
They claimed BMC Commissioner Rajesh Prabhakar Patil had promised to clear all waste within seven days, but no action has followed. Plans to fill the site with soil and plant trees near the Dhirikuti slum remain unfulfilled. Protesters also criticised the underutilisation of the new solid waste processing unit at Palasuni, which can handle 150 tons of waste daily, while 350 metric tons continue to be dumped at Gadakana.