Collapse of Natural Carcass Disposal System …
41
4.2 Kolkata Rotten Meat Incident
To investigate on a report of 19 April 2018, police took the lid off the organized
racket at Budge near Kolkata by cracking down on units associated with a processed
meat industry running in collusion with some powerful racketeer over ten years. It
was identified that some civic service staffs working as informers at the dump yards
played their roles heavily where it was found that after dumping the carcasses get
transported to the cold storages in the heart of the city. The meat is then processed
in steps and supplied to different markets and restaurants. This fake meat market is
spread across Orissa, Bihar, Nepal and Bangladesh.
4.2.1 Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and Its Waste Disposal
System
Kolkata, the primitive megacity of West Bengal, is one of the four oldest metropolitan cities in India. It is situated at the bank of river Ganga and is under the civic
administration of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). Therefore, augmentation
of the solid waste management facilities along with the carcass disposal system is a
major issue of concern. KMC has a total area of 201 km
2 (census 2011, Fig. 2) (Ali
2016). Its territorial jurisdiction has been divided into 15 boroughs consisting of 144
municipal wards with total population of nearly 5.5 million. Solid waste generation
and disposal per day is 4500 tons/day (as per 2013–14) at a rate of (0.9–1.1) kg per
capita per day.
Key locations for dumping yards in Kolkata existing under Kolkata Municipal
Corporation
Normally, the collected waste is transported into the disposal site for final treatment.
There are two disposal sites existing at present in Kolkata, Dhapa which is located at
eastern metropolitan bypass and Garden Reach (eight hectors), in south-west Kolkata
influenced by tidal influx, and both are nearly saturated. KMC has added around 14
hectors to the Dhapa site which now covers total 52 hectors. KMC has identified a
new site near New Town, Rajarhat in action area III (twenty hectors). The average
distance of each borough from Dhapa is given in Table 2 (Ali 2016).
The expenditure of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (https://www.kmcgov.in/
KMCPortal/downloads/Budget_Estimate_2017_2018.pdf) for solid waste management is INR 4,074,426,208 annually (2017), in which more than 70% are expended
for waste collection, around (20–22)% for transportation and the rest, and only (5–
7)% are used for final treatment and disposal. So, KMC’s priority status for this
very important step is clear. Treatment of waste is done by one compost plant at
Dhapa landfill with a capacity of 500 tons only. Bulldozers (seven operational) are
used there for areal extend and to level the waste. Two efficient solid waste treatment plants are in operation at Kalyani and Howrah, but because of their locations,
they are underused. Also, different Suburban Municipalities located at Budge Budge,
Dumdum, Kamarhati, Panihati, Barrackpore, Kalyani, Howrah, etc., maintain their
41
4.2 Kolkata Rotten Meat Incident
To investigate on a report of 19 April 2018, police took the lid off the organized
racket at Budge near Kolkata by cracking down on units associated with a processed
meat industry running in collusion with some powerful racketeer over ten years. It
was identified that some civic service staffs working as informers at the dump yards
played their roles heavily where it was found that after dumping the carcasses get
transported to the cold storages in the heart of the city. The meat is then processed
in steps and supplied to different markets and restaurants. This fake meat market is
spread across Orissa, Bihar, Nepal and Bangladesh.
4.2.1 Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and Its Waste Disposal
System
Kolkata, the primitive megacity of West Bengal, is one of the four oldest metropolitan cities in India. It is situated at the bank of river Ganga and is under the civic
administration of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). Therefore, augmentation
of the solid waste management facilities along with the carcass disposal system is a
major issue of concern. KMC has a total area of 201 km
2 (census 2011, Fig. 2) (Ali
2016). Its territorial jurisdiction has been divided into 15 boroughs consisting of 144
municipal wards with total population of nearly 5.5 million. Solid waste generation
and disposal per day is 4500 tons/day (as per 2013–14) at a rate of (0.9–1.1) kg per
capita per day.
Key locations for dumping yards in Kolkata existing under Kolkata Municipal
Corporation
Normally, the collected waste is transported into the disposal site for final treatment.
There are two disposal sites existing at present in Kolkata, Dhapa which is located at
eastern metropolitan bypass and Garden Reach (eight hectors), in south-west Kolkata
influenced by tidal influx, and both are nearly saturated. KMC has added around 14
hectors to the Dhapa site which now covers total 52 hectors. KMC has identified a
new site near New Town, Rajarhat in action area III (twenty hectors). The average
distance of each borough from Dhapa is given in Table 2 (Ali 2016).
The expenditure of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (https://www.kmcgov.in/
KMCPortal/downloads/Budget_Estimate_2017_2018.pdf) for solid waste management is INR 4,074,426,208 annually (2017), in which more than 70% are expended
for waste collection, around (20–22)% for transportation and the rest, and only (5–
7)% are used for final treatment and disposal. So, KMC’s priority status for this
very important step is clear. Treatment of waste is done by one compost plant at
Dhapa landfill with a capacity of 500 tons only. Bulldozers (seven operational) are
used there for areal extend and to level the waste. Two efficient solid waste treatment plants are in operation at Kalyani and Howrah, but because of their locations,
they are underused. Also, different Suburban Municipalities located at Budge Budge,
Dumdum, Kamarhati, Panihati, Barrackpore, Kalyani, Howrah, etc., maintain their