Our Bureau/
Your idea about the ancient silk city Bhagalpur might be wrong particularly while looking at the hoarding “Welcome to smart city” at the entrance point from western side, one NH-80!

A man paddling amid the cloud of smoke on NH-80.

Pungent smoke oozing out from the piles of garbage deposited beside NH-80, could affect you adversely while entering into the smart city. Entire atmosphere covered up by the smoke, exposes the sorry state of affairs of local government machineries. The cultivated lands besides the NH virtually turned the dumping ground of Bhagalpur Municipal Corporation (BMC). The situation turned further critical when the solid west collected from Bhagalpur city put on fire despite knowing the hazardous impact of it.

Difficult for survival!

The smoke oozing out continuously creates panic among the denizens living nearby localities. The students of St. Teresa school located at the locality, are the worst effected of it. “Our students are falling ill due to the smoke and the toxic air in the area,” said Neel Kamal, a teacher in the school.
Echoing Neel Kamal, Gazadhar Mandal, a local resident said that people in the localities like Do Gacchi etc are badly affected with the pollution that is created while dumping solid west in open place beside the NH and the smoke. “Many people fell ill with fatal diseases in that locality. Not only that the trees that once provide shades over the NH, today started dying as the garbage deposited below the trees, started harming the roots. Fire is another factor for destroying the greenery besides the NH.

Piles of garbage on fire beside NH-80.

Not a single person at BMC was ready even to acknowledge the gravity of the situation. “It’s mainly due to the non-availability of dumping ground. We are looking for a permanent dumping ground, we will soon manage such odd things,” replied a senior BMC personnel on condition of anonymity.
Person concerned of BMC might avoiding their bad practices, but such phenomena became common affair for them. Earlier, BMC had started dumping solid west direct to river Ganga. After hue and cry by some local non-governmental organizations, such steps taken out by BMC was prevented. However, BMC almost blocked the path of ancient historical river Champa, a tributary of Ganga here while dumping solid west on it.
The fire on the garbage however prompted some local non-governmental bodies to knock the door of law. “Look we earlier in several times repeatedly made the concerned officials and the local bodies aware of the situation, nothing has happened so far except some assurances from their side. Now it’s the time to file writ petition to High Court, Patna. We are quite sure that without intervention of court, such problem could not be countered,” said some social activist.

Artificial fog due to smoke from the garbage.

The social activists also planning for a massive demonstration in which school children along with people from different walks of life will participate. “Soon after the demonstration, we would move to the court,” said a social activist.
(to be concluded)