Dumpyard row: Garbage piles up in Kullu, Bhuntar

Our Correspondent

Kullu, September 20

Heaps of garbage have begun piling up at various places in Kullu and Bhuntar towns after the villagers did not allow dumping of garbage at the waste dumping yard and biomedical waste incinerator plant at Pirdi for the sixth day on Thursday. The villagers of Balh, Mohal and Talogi panchayats have blocked the road leading to the waste dumping yard since September 15.

The garbage can be seen strewn at various places in the Akhara, Sarwari, Sultanpur and Dhalpur areas of Kullu town. The Municipal Committees of Kullu and Bhuntar has no place to dump the garbage.

Residents alleged that the Municipal Committee had not collected garbage and they were forced to keep the garbage in their houses due to which foul smell had started emanating and the risk of disease outbreak had increased. Meanwhile, some of the residents were dumping waste at isolated places in the town.

The administration imposed Section 144 of the CrPC, but the villagers continued the stir. Various administrative authorities, including Kullu MLA Sunder Singh Thakur tried to intervene to resolve the issue but the villagers were firm on their demand. The villagers said they would not allow dumping of waste in their area as it was a major health hazard.

The villagers said they had apprised various authorities regarding the issue many times but only false assurances were given and nothing concrete had been done so far. The villagers alleged that there was corruption in running the garbage plant and that’s why the authorities were not interested in shifting it. They said both, the Himachal Pradesh High Court and the NGT had given directions to the Kullu Municipal Committee to shift the dumping site, but it had failed to do so.