People in Bhubaneswar bear the brunt of deadlock over dump yard

The locals want the government to directly involve and find a permanent solution, Chakravarty said.Urban Development Minister Usha Devi said the administration was trying to find a solution.Discussions are on and we hope that the issue will be resolved within two-three days, she told reporters.The villagers have been protesting since 2008 when the BMC started dumping waste at Bhuasuni.

Residents of Bhubaneswar continued to suffer on Monday as the collection of garbage is still affected amid a stalemate over the dumping of waste at a designated yard.

Villagers of Daruthenga panchayat, a few kilometres away from the city, have not been allowing trucks of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to dump waste at the Bhuasuni dumpyard for more than two weeks over various demands, officials said.

This led to the temporary transit station in the Odisha capital brimming with garbage, leading to more time being taken by dump trucks to unload the waste and collect more from the bins.

Barring the posh areas of the city, many streets in residential areas are stinking with litter scattered around the bins, which are full to capacity. The problem was compounded by intermittent rain.

As flies and animals gather around the garbage, residents are apprehensive of the outbreak of dengue or other diseases.

Daruthenga sarpanch Tapan Chakravarty had called a gram sabha to discuss the details of a meeting held on Saturday with the BMC.

But the villagers are not willing to trust the civic body as it did not meet the past assurances. The locals want the government to directly involve and find a permanent solution, Chakravarty said.

Urban Development Minister Usha Devi said the administration was trying to find a solution.

''Discussions are on and we hope that the issue will be resolved within two-three days,'' she told reporters.

The villagers have been protesting since 2008 when the BMC started dumping waste at Bhuasuni. The current agitation was triggered by the death of a youth after he was being knocked down by a dump truck on the way to the dump yard earlier this month.

The locals have been demanding a complete halt in the dumping of waste and clearing of the site, which has badly affected them in many ways.

The BMC has sought a time of nine months to start biomining -- scientific management of old solid waste.

The civic body has also said dumping of waste at Bhuasuni cannot be completely stopped until the completion of installing all the micro composting centres to increase the capacity of processing garbage.