Smart City norm violations leading to soil degradation in Bhopal

21 Feb 2022 CW Team

The soil mixed with waste is being dumped in the Smart City development area of Bhopal. Two weeks have passed since the area inspection by Bhopal Smart City and Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials and a team of top Bhopal Smart City.

The area near Boulevard Street has been transformed into a waste dump under this development. The Bhopal Smart City Development Corporation Limited (BSCDCL) has been consistently ignoring the soil and water contamination safeguards. The area from Dusshera Maidan is now marked for redevelopment purposes.

On February 9, the officials of the senior government visited the development site because of a proposal to lay out a green zone to be developed as well as inaugurated. Because of unavoidable reasons, the program had to be rescheduled.

In the VVIP program context, the contaminated soil and waste dump have been reduced significantly.

The stretch of the waste dump is huge in terms of area. It is almost the size of a football field.

BMC zone 7, health officer, Hari Rao said that as the dump falls under the Bhopal Smart City, the BMC has nothing to do with the dumping ground.

The number of cows and other animals in the area has increased. The toxic plastic waste is not suitable for the soil or the animals. The dump and contamination levels have not been assessed as of yet. And the BSCDCL officials have chosen not to respond.

Also read: Smart Cities tenders 6,721 projects worth Rs 1,88,507 crore

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