Civic body staff caught burning garbage at Burlton Park

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 18

In gross violation of the Pollution Control Board (PCB) guidelines, the Municipal Corporation (MC) authorities here were caught burning garbage at its illegal garbage collection centre inside the Burlton Park area today.

Though there is a separate garbage collection centre outside the main boundary wall of Burlton Park, due to the lackadaisical attitude of the MC officials, sanitation workers could be seen burning garbage openly inside a green belt area next to the cricket stadium.

After receiving complaints from area residents, a Jalandhar Tribune team visited the Burlton Park area on Monday and found the MC staff first lifting the garbage from the tipper through a crane and later putting it on a garbage dump set on fire by the sanitation workers.

"The open burning of waste by the MC workers is a violation and leads to the deterioration of the ambient air quality in the city," said Harish Sharma, general secretary of the Burlton Park Welfare Association, adding that the Act was punishable as a criminal offence under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, which authorises the state governments to ban burning of any material causing air pollution. He said a matter pertaining to this was already in the court and he would present this fact in the next hearing of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Another resident Dr MM Khosla, while slamming the MC workers for setting fire to heaps of garbage, said the irresponsible and unscientific method of garbage disposal could be quite hazardous. “Gases and particles emitted from the burning of the waste can substantially affect human health and also affect climate change, thus hampering the future of children. Some of these pollutants have been linked to decreased lung functioning, neurological disorders, cancer and heart attacks," said Dr Khosla.

Dr Varinder Kalia, MC Health Officer, claimed ignorance about the matter, but assured speedy investigation into the matter. “It is only a garbage collection centre and our tippers take the garbage from here to the Wariana dump. Still, I will get the matter investigated soon,” said Dr Kalia.

Earlier, the MC had planned to turn the 63-acre green belt area into a sports hub at an estimated cost of Rs 201.59 crore to construct a cricket stadium and a swimming pool of international standards, and passed a resolution to this effect in 2008. The project was to be completed in two phases, with the construction of a cricket stadium and an indoor stadium with a swimming pool of international standards at a cost of Rs 140-crore in the first stage and beautification work in the second stage.

However, the project failed to get clearance from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, following which the MC is now planning to take up the matter with the Ministry of Environment and Forests soon.