Dhapa: Plastic fumes from Kolkata’s largest landfill threaten locals’ lives

“We are so used to getting throat and eye irritations that we have stopped caring. I just wash my eyes every few hours,” says Aneesh Molla, 50, a security guard at an upscale building complex near Dhapa, Kolkata’s main landfill since 1987. This area near the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass is now known for the constant spreading of smoke that chokes most of east Kolkata during winters. On an early January evening, when this correspondent arrived at the Silver Spring apartment in the area, there was a visible layer of smoke that caused immediate irritation. 

The smoke problem has been a long one. People in the neighbouring areas have protested for years but nothing much has changed. In 2019, the residents of Silver Spring had put up a sign protesting the toxic fumes. Some people have sold homes they had bought in the area to shift away. Even people living kilometres away complain of sharply increasing pollution levels during winters. Like advertising professional Rima Sen uses a mask regularly and is now planning to invest in an air purifier living at least 4 km from Dhapa. 

According to the West Bengal Pollution Control Board, the concentration of particulate matter at the Dhapa site is more than four times higher than it should be.