Nimby protest near Howrah’s Ramrajatala stalls dumping of waste
Times of India | 27 March 2025
12 Howrah: Protests by local residents on Wednesday forced Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) to scrap the plan to set up a temporary dumping ground at Arupara near Ramrajatala and transport solid wate to the Dhapa dumping ground.
The waste that was generated in Howrah on Tuesday was transported to Arupara but dumping of waste there ceased night when locals blocked the road and refused access of 30 dump trucks to the ground. Following this, it was decided that the waste that is generated daily in Howrah will be redirected to Dhapa in Kolkata till another dump site is identified. The decision was taken following an SOS from HMC chairman to the KMC mayor. However, sources said while the daily waste generation in Howrah is 550 tonne, the maximum waste that Dhapa would accept is 300 tonne.
The earlier decision to use a site at Arupara as dumping ground was taken at a meeting of the urban development department to prevent another landslide at the overburdened landfill site at Howrah's Belgachhia. This vacant plot is near the old sewage treatment facility in Dharsha-Arupara, adjacent to Ramrajatala in ward 48.
While trouble had been brewing since evening when locals expressed concerns about environmental pollution and unpleasant odour affecting their residential area and pointed out that the disposal site served as a recreational space for morning walkers and children, the situation escalated when local residents, including women, staged a demonstration. Despite intervention from the municipal authorities and police, residents stood their ground. HMC chairperson Sujoy Chakraborty then dialled urban development minister Firhad Hakim for help, leading to the interim decision to redirect Howrah's waste to Dhapa from Wednesday.
A senior municipal official confirmed that the bio-mining agency at the old Belgachia landfill now has independent authority over waste management decisions. HMC will not intervene in matters concerning the old Belgachia landfill waste. According to the corporation's conservancy department sources, post bio-mining, Belgachia waste will be distributed between a cement factory and a power generation facility.