Villagers of Raghunathpur area of Baliapur block about 25 km from Dhanbad district headquarters on Thursday held an hour-long demonstration against the proposed development of waste recycling plant.

More than 200 protesters were holding placards bearing slogans like gaon hamara kudedan nahin (our village is not a dumping ground) nagar nigam ka kachara dump gram panchayhat me nahi ho (urban waste should not be dumped in our village).

Trilochan Mahto, one of the protester said the district administration has identified around 20.19 acres of land in mouza number 179 of Raghunathpur village for establishing a waste recycling plant but the identified land is surrounded by a densely populated area.

Rajesh Kumar Mahto, a resident of Raghunathpur and a representative of Village Pramukh Sneha Kumari said, “the proposed site for recycling plant also bears a small pond and a graveyard for children and the recycling plant will affect these facilities.”

Sindri MLA, Indrajit Mahto had raised the issue of the proposed development of waste recycling plant in Raghunathpur in the state assembly and expressed his reservation over the development of such a plant in the village.

Since the launch of the door to door collection of household garbage of 55 wards of five circles of Dhanbad in 2019, the integrated solid waste management project worth Rs 254 crores had initially identified around 30 acres of FCI land in Sindri. As FCI demanded around Rs 700 crores for proving a 30 year lease for the identified land, the DMC later identified around 17 acres of land in Aamjhar area of Baliapur and another 21 acres at Deoli in Govindpur but the procedural hurdles forced DMC to select around 21 acres of land at Raghunathpur for which the environment clearance has already been obtained and land transfer is in progress.