ROURKELA: The long-awaited solid waste treatment plant in the ever-expanding Rourkela city remains a non-starter. This, despite the fact that Housing and Urban Development Minister Sarada Prasad Nayak has been laying increased thrust on sanitation campaign. Amid failures to set up the waste management project, the civic body has finally pinned all its hopes on Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) to wriggle it out of the chaotic situation.Sources said it has been a futile exercise for the civic body since 2008 to find a suitable site for the treatment plant even as the Urban Development Ministry with offer of financial aid unsuccessfully nudged it several times. The municipality alone could not be faulted as Sundargarh district administration failed to acquire land due to protests by locals at Balughat, Lathikata and Bisra. Now the municipality has been dumping garbage in low-lying and vacant areas and the unscientific ways of disposing garbage would pose danger in the long-run.Officials said the municipal areas produce a whopping 130 tonnes of domestic garbage daily, including nearly 70 tonnes from the captive township of RSP. Well-placed sources in RSP said a stretch of 20 acres at Tarkera has been earmarked to set up the treatment plant with a capacity to process 200 tonnes daily.RSP is hoping to complete the spadework by floating a tender by month-end.Sources said four firms from Mumbai, Coimbatore, Bhubaneswar and Rourkela are in the bidding.Subsequently, the municipality would be included through a tri-partite agreement. Municipal Council vice-chairman RN Mishra said he was hoping for a fruitful outcome as the municipality does not have the required land.
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