Waste dumped on forest land, locals to move NGT

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, December 9

The residents of Rajpur here at a meeting today decided to lodge a complaint with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board regarding the dumping of waste on forestland along the Kalu Di Hatti-Holta road.

Vijay Kumar, a resident, said they had filed several complaints with the Municipal Corporation of Palampur but no steps were initiated to remove garbage dumps.

Rajesh Kumar, another resident, said that garbage dumping in the forest not only caused inconvenience to locals but had also become a major health hazard. Garbage dumps had led to a rise in pulmonary diseases among the locals, he added.

Vinay Suresh, who was present at the meeting, said the MC was paying over

Rs 21 lakh to the contractors every month to collect garbage and dispose it of properly, but still piles of garbage could be seen at every nook and corner of the city.

Many residents claimed that the garbage wasn’t being collected regularly in the Ward No. 11, which included Rajpur, due to poor monitoring by the civic body. The garbage dump also attract several stray cattle, a local resident said.

Confirming that the he had received complaints regarding the issue, MC Commissioner Vikram Mahajan said he had directed MC staff to resolve the issue and remove the entire waste immediately from the forest.

He said he would also call the meeting of contractors who had been assigned to collect and dispose of the waste in the city.

#Environment #National Green Tribunal NGT #Palampur #Pollution