Bhagtanwala residents stage protest

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 30

Following Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora’s announcement during the MC house meeting yesterday that the proposed Solid Waste Management Plant (SWMP) would be installed at Bhagtanwala only, the residents living in the nearby localities have opposed the move and staged a protest.

They are of the opinion that it would further lead to health problems throughout their lives.

Sanjay Sharma, a local resident, said the government had been misleading the high court by declaring Bhagtanwala as a village, whereas it was a thickly populated area.

“There must be around 50,000 people living in the localities surrounding the Bhagtanwala dumpyard. If the SWMP is installed here, it will be a breach of the Municipal Solid Waste Act, 2000. There is a railway line near this dumpyard and most importantly the grain market, which stores wheat that caters to the citizens of the whole country," he said.

Another resident, Naresh Kaushal, said if the authorities were adamant on setting up the SWMP in their locality, they would have no choice but to take to the streets again.

Earlier, the residents had staged a 42-day non-stop agitation, demanding shifting of the dumpyard and the site for the SWMP. They withdrew their agitation after Chief Parliamentary Secretary Inderbir Singh Bolaria assured them that their demands would be met unconditionally. After that, the Bhagtanwala dumpyard was declared defunct and garbage dumping came to a halt.

Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora said the site for the SWMP was finalised by the government, the high court and the Pollution Control Board. “It has nothing to do with us. The agitating residents should question the government over selecting Bhagtanwala as a dumping yard. If the government provides us with any other site, we have no objection to shift the plant there,” he said.