A step to eliminate construction waste has been initiated by Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will establish an online portal that displays the status of construction work and reports the waste left by different departments.

The online site, which will include construction work information of various departments, is intended to take responsibility for the Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste department and enable it to go unattended along the road. Everyone can access the website and let the BMC know where the waste is and the agency that has done the work. This will benefit people, agencies of the BMC and the government.

Officials at the BMC said citizens frequently approached the corporation for C&D waste disposal without information about the agency that created it. BMC officials also stated that people have always approached the corporation for disposal of C&D waste without any information about the company responsible for it. They added that the BMC has always taken away waste (no matter which department had generated it) to prevent inconvenience.

Subhendu Sahu, Deputy Commissioner of Sanitation of BMC, said that all agencies conducting construction work under the jurisdiction of the BMC would have access to the Website. “It is going to work as a dispute resolution platform. The BMC would draw its attention to the issue from the department in concern on the same portal adding.”

“The agency will have to pay the BMC’s transportation fee if it is unable to clear the waste and will operate on its behalf. All the communications will be recorded on the site,” he added.

While C&D waste management rules were implemented by the BMC in 2016, they are not strictly enforced. Earlier, the civic body had undertaken an initiative to seize waste and fine people for throwing waste at public places, but if waste is created by a government department there is still a strategy to be established.

BMC Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhury said most of the city’s roads belonged to the works department. “They should manage any waste generated after the construction of a road under the works department,” he added.

“Different departments involved in different works in the town such as the digging earth for laying cables. In such situations, the road department would be to be paid for the waste disposal by the agency or the laying department of the cables. Similarly, BMC should be intimated for better coordination,” Chaudhury said.

The waste produced by the construction, repair, re-modelling and demolition of government and private buildings, houses, roads and drains should be treated with care in order to prevent littering. It invades the lane and leaves the area filthy when abandoned. It causes accidents as well.