Bhadrak: Bhadrak Municipality’s proposal for a waste treatment plant at Amargadia has hit a roadblock, as people of seven villages strongly opposed the project Tuesday. The villagers alleged that the waste treatment project will spell doom for the greenery and forest at the project site area.
According to reports, over 700 people from Gelapur, Amargadia, Balarampur, Harishankarpur, Debapokhari, Charigharia, Naraharipur, Nrushighapur and Panichatara villages got together at the village deity in Champe Tuesday and slammed the civic body and the administration for choosing the site for the project.
They pointed out that they had earlier opposed the project at the place and submitted memoranda to the revenue and disaster management minister, Bhadrak MLA, wildlife division and the collector in September. Despite that, the administration had decided to go ahead with the project at the same site, the protesters said.
They warned they will carry on their agitation until the administration revokes its decision and shift the project from the earmarked site. “We will stage a hunger strike for an indefinite period in front of the collectorate,” they stressed.
Former samiti member and lawyer Prafulla Samal, other locals like Panchanan Patra, Surendra Rout, Hrushikesh Biswal, Harishchandra Ghadei, Ranjan Mishra, Prafulla Swain, Bishnumohan Parida and Papu Patra said that the civic authorities have decided (on their own) to dump waste at the place, but they are not empowered to damage forest and environment there.
The villagers also said that the administration and the civic body have not taken the locals into confidence before deciding on the site for the waste treatment plant.
They also said that the plot on which the plant would be set up was a pasture land, but the forest department had undertaken plantation at the place.
The village committee has been protecting the forest for the last 22 years. However, the revenue department had changed the category of the land in its records and illegally handed over the land to the Bhadrak Municipality, locals said, adding they will soon take up the issue again with the collector. PNN
