Howrah slum under hills of filth to be razed

HMC has failed to find an alternative site for the Belgachia Dumping Ground
Howrah, 14 January : The garbage mounds stand nearly six storeys high and are getting bigger every day. Under its shadow, hundreds of families scavenge and live, unaware of the deadly danger looming overhead. If the worst does happen and the hills of filth cave in, not only these people, but hundreds more in nearby areas including children in schools and kindergartens will be in danger.
Armed with a Kolkata High Court order, Howrah Municipal Corporation is all set to evict squatters from the Belgachia dumping ground on Wednesday and clear space so that garbage can be spread more evenly and not piled on vertically.
HMC has failed to find an alternative site for the Belgachia dumping ground that has far outstretched its limit. More than 30% of the dumpsite has been encroached, say HMC sources. The 100-year-old dumping ground has an area of 500 bigha, of which around 150 bigha has human settlements.
Environmentalist Subash Datta had filed a public interest litigation in 2001 in the green bench of Kolkata High Court, saying the dumping ground had reached saturation point and it was causing pollution in the vicinity. The green bench then directed HMC and the state government to find land for a new garbage dumping ground. The civic body sought time for hunting the new site. After repeated failures, the court fined HMC Rs 20,000 in 2006 and asked the corporation to speed up things.
Meanwhile, the garbage mound kept getting bigger at the rate of 1000 tonnes a day. On 5 December, 2008 the green bench ordered HMC to clear the encroached portion and utilize 150 bigha on temporary basis, setting 15 January as the deadline. That's just 24 hours away.
"We have conducted a survey and found 200 houses and 25 illegal shops lined up along two sides of the dumping ground. This encroachment has to be cleared in compliance with the court order. We issued a notice in this regard on 8 January," said HMC commissioner Amar Bandopadhyay.
Scavengers started making the dumpyard their home almost at the same time as it was commissioned as a dumping ground a century ago. Currently 25% of the settlers are working as scavengers for HMC. The district administration had called an all-party meeting on Monday for a peaceful eviction process. The squatters are known to be CPM loyalists for years, and CPM representatives have agreed to comply with the court order. But representatives of Congress and Trinamool Congress from among the squatters have thrown a spanner by demanding rehabilitation packages. The district administration fears violence on Wednesday when the eviction begins at 9 in morning.
"There is no question of rehabilitating the squatters as they have been living there illegally. We have asked the squatters to vacate the place by Tuesday. We will have to use force if they do not go on their own," Howrah district magistrate Khalil Ahmed told Bengal News. The district administration have been capture the eviction procedure on video Today to nail down people who try to obstruct the drive.