The Asansol Durgapur industrial hub is reeling under a severe crisis of disposal of solid waste these days. Though a solid waste management project has been planned under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, that still remains incomplete. The civic bodies having no other alternative are dumping garbage everywhere indiscriminately. This dumping caused resentment among the residents and last Tuesday mobs from different cross sections grew unruly and refused the contractors engaged by the Durgapur Municipal Corporation to unload their lorries in the heart of the town. The place that was being used by the DMC falls under the wards 21 & 23 and is very close to the academic institutions and two separate residential colonies. The Asansol Durgapur Development Authority ~ a state backed statutory body has allotted a Rs 200 crore solid waste management project under the JNNURM for five municipalities operating in Durgapur, Asansol, Raniganj, Jamuria and Kulti. The work for the project is still in progress. Mr Smaraki Mahapatra, CEO, ADDA said: "The main composting plant is under progress at Shankarpur which is yet to be completed. The handling contractor was given eight months time schedule for the work.' The volume of solid waste is estimated to reach 2000 MT per day in Durgapur by 2025 as per the perspective plan prepared by the IIT, Kharagpore. The requirement of total waste generation, according to the ADDA officials: "Has been worked out after a detailed survey of waste generating areas in accordance with the manual on Municipal Solid Waste Management. The requirement of the waste collection, storage and transportation have been worked out on the basis of the projected population at the end of the design year, per capita waste generation as per norms, storage containers are calculated on the basis of volume, distance to the treatment plant or composting site in every trip.' The scientists and environmentalists operating in this industrial hub have been complaining of severe air and drinking water pollution since five years. As stated Dr Kalyan Adhikari, secretary, Durgapur Society for Environment Science & Ecology: " The concept of solid waste management was not a popular idea even among the civic bodies or the urban planners three to four years back. We had to struggle to make the ADDA understand that a compact package was highly essential for the civic bodies as towns like Asansol, Durgapur were increasing rapidly due to urbanization.' In 2003, the Durgapur Mayor, Mr Rathin Roy and the former CEO, ADDA, Mr NM Prasad had been to Italy to help in learning about the SWM. Though five years have passed, the town remains unattended.