VMC incinerator lies idle as carcasses join garbage

VADODARA, Feb 9: Within a month of Vadodara Municipal Commissioner G R Aloria's announcement that carcasses of pigs and dogs would be con...

VADODARA, Feb 9: Within a month of Vadodara Municipal Commissioner G R Aloria8217;s announcement that carcasses of pigs and dogs would be consigned to the incinerator and not dumped with garbage, Express Newsline found the remains of at least 15 dead animals under Vadsar Bridge on the way to GIDC Makarpura. None of them seemed to be more than a week old.

Despite the civic chief8217;s assurance that all ward offices had been told to dispose of carcasses properly, 8220;dead animals are often dumped below the Vadsar bridge, the city8217;s largest such site8221;, says Parvatsinh Jhala, who operates a larri close by. 8220;Sometimes the dead animals are even swept away by the Vishwamitri8221;.

The city8217;s sole incinerator at Gajrawadi, meanwhile, rarely gets to dispose of animal carcasses. 8220;Dead animals usually just waste away8221;, said a senior civic official on condition of anonymity.

In-charge Additional city Engineer B S Trapasia went one step forward to admit he had absolutely no idea of the ground situation. 8220;We need to inquire who is disposing of the carcasses at the garbage dumps8221;, he said, while trying to defend the VMC by claiming that Vadodara wasn8217;t the only city where such a thing happened.

Then what about the commissioner8217;s orders? 8220;I8217;ll have to check that out8221;, Trapasia said. 8220;The only thing I can say is that the VMC has the facility to burn dead animals8221;.

While no one is disputing that, the fact is that dead animals are not being routed to the incinerator either. Suresh Gavli, a contract operator at Gajrawadi, told Express Newsline on Tuesday that there had been no rise in the number of animals he had to dispose of.

8220;Every day, we get an average of five dogs and one or two pigs8221;, he said, adding that they operated the incinerator when four or five carcasses piled up.

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While ward offices, a few removes away from the civic chief, can flout Aloria8217;s orders and get away with it, the same holds true in the VMC8217;s backyard. Lalji Thakkar, one of the civic body8217;s seniormost councillors, admitted that the six-year-old incinerator was sometimes unpredictable. 8220;Only recently, we had to bury 25-odd pigs near Vadsar as the incinerator was not working. But this is occasional8221;, he said.

While Trapasia admitted that the incinerator could handle only upto 30 kg or so, Deputy Municipal Commissioner General I B Peerzada, when asked, if the corporation was doing anything to augment its capacity, said, 8220;We8217;re planning to upgrade it.8221; Asked when, he refused to be pinned down to a time-frame.

The open violation of Aloria8217;s orders, coming as it does in the wake of the pig menace which triggered a desperate pig-killing spree in the village of Bhayeli certainly gives cause for concern to city residents.

For, in the meantime, the VMC has done absolutely nothing to tackle the pig problem. It has not initiated any dialogue with the omnipresent pig-breeders, though the civic officials told Express Newsline a month ago that they were planning to do so. Peerzada admitted that the meeting hasn8217;t happened and confessed that he had no idea when it would take place.

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The VMC has no plans to lodge any police complaints either; the one filed recently was because a couple of breeders had assaulted VMC staff.

While it is good to know the civic body is looking out for its staff, one wonders when the VMC will start looking out after the rest of its people.