Residents living near Sainik School in Bhubaneswar have asked the Odisha State Pollution Control Board to stop waste vehicles from entering the Gadakana dumping yard during Durga Puja, warning that they will begin a hunger strike and protest near the site if the demand is not accepted.
Representatives of the Sainik School Banchao and A lixo Gada Hatao Abhiyan submitted a memorandum to the member-secretary of the State Pollution Control Board, seeking an immediate halt to dumping near the school. They also demanded that the waste mound be removed from the area before further dumping is permitted.
The residents’ demand places the Gadakana site at the centre of a continuing dispute over how Bhubaneswar handles municipal waste and how long waste can remain accumulated near populated areas and public institutions. The report identifies the location as a Treatment, Transportation and Storage facility near Sainik School, but does not provide the site’s operating capacity, the quantity of waste currently stored or details of an alternative disposal arrangement.
According to the campaign representatives quoted in the report, waste vehicles should not be allowed to enter the yard during the festival period. They said that if vehicle entry is not stopped, members of the campaign will sit on hunger strike in front of the Pollution Control Board and stage a protest near the dumping yard during Durga Puja.
The campaign also claimed that the Union Defence Minister had written to the Odisha Chief Minister about the removal of what it described as an illegal and toxic waste mound. The supplied report does not reproduce the letter, identify its date or specify the action sought from the state government. Those details could not be independently established from the material available for this report.
The residents further said they had previously organised sit-ins, demonstrations and hunger strikes over the issue. They alleged that the Pollution Control Board had issued a warning letter to the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and given it time to remove the waste mound. The report does not state the deadline mentioned in that communication or whether the BMC has completed any remedial work.
The campaign attributed deaths and serious illnesses among local residents to toxic gases and pollution from the waste mound. These are allegations made by the residents and are not independently verified in the supplied report. No medical records, environmental monitoring data or official health assessment are cited.
The immediate administrative question is whether waste vehicles will continue entering the Gadakana facility during the festival period and what temporary arrangement, if any, will be used if dumping is stopped. The residents’ memorandum places responsibility for the next response with the Pollution Control Board and the municipal corporation, while the threatened protest could bring the dispute into public view during Durga Puja.
