The Adityapur mayor has said the corporation would seek police help to set up a dumping yard in the densely populated industrial township.

Every day, five mini-truckloads of municipal garbage are generated in the corporation area with a 2.5 lakh-plus population. But, without a designated dump yard, Adityapur Municipal Corporation (AMC) is forced to dump municipal wastes in a haphazard way.

The bustling satellite industrial town, barely 3km from the steel city, has piles of rotting filth at various points — residential areas, small local grounds, lanes, roadsides — that are both an eyesore and a health hazard.

Contacted, AMC mayor Vinod Srivastava admitted dumping garbage posed a problem in the industrial town but also explained why it existed. “Wherever and whenever we get land for a garbage dump, residents nearby start opposing strongly. That’s why, despite necessary funds at our disposal to set up a dumping yard, we have not been able to do so yet,” mayor Srivastava said.

He added that the Seraikela-Kharsawan district administration, under which the industrial township fell, had recently provided the civic body a new plot at Nutandih in Ward 1 of the AMC, but as soon as residents came to know, they started objecting.

“As soon as word was out that we would set up a compound wall on this one-acre plot for a dumping yard, residents started raising objections. We have, therefore, decided to raise the boundary wall very soon under police protection,” Srivastava said.

He added that people objected to a dumping yard near their homes fearing stench, filth and an outbreak of diseases.

“But what they don’t realise is that a dumping yard constructed by a corporation would be a covered structure. We are aware of the concerns (of the people) and they would be addressed.”

All Adityapur residents that this correspondent spoke to said they wanted a dumping yard but no one wanted it close to their home or locality.

Harishankar Singh of Nutandih said whatever the corporation did, “covering or recycling or whatever”, stench was bound to come out. “That’s why we are protesting,” Singh said.

Sangeeta Singh of Kalpanapur in Adityapur alleged the civic body had no common sense. “There’s garbage near homes, on the road and playground. I’ve stopped my children from playing outside,” she said. “The corporation should select a proper place far away from human habitation,” she suggested.

Asked where such a place could be in a congested town, she kept quiet.