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By PETER KORUGL
LAE city’s main rubbish dump was forcefully closed and traffic grounded
to a halt when a roadblock was set up by angry members of the community
following the death of a man last Thursday morning.
Lae Police said the communities that resided around the dump prevented
the Lae City Authority workers from dumping rubbish and the roadblock
scared other motorists off the Bumayong-Lae road.
The angry reaction by the community followed the death of 34-year-old
Limbo Loagis, who was killed instantly after being run over by a PMV bus
on the road along the main city dump.
The roadblock was cleared later in the day by police who continued to
maintain surveillance and security for the rest of the day for the city
authority workmen and company vehicles that used the dump.
Police said no one was attacked nor property damaged by the angry people
who urged the city authority to relocate the dump to another place where
it would not be a health hazard.
Police said the deceased was hit and dragged for some metres by the PMV
at around 6am because the bus driver did not see the man in the middle
of the road.
“The bus hit the deceased as he was coming away from the fire. The fire
was beside the road and the man went there to light his cigarette,”
senior constable David Opald said.
Mr Opald and his men said the black smoke and the smell from the rubbish
were hazardous as well as the rubbish that were dumped along the road to
Bumayong and the Telikom Training College.
The accident prompted the policemen to join the Tent Siti, Telikom
Training College, Bumayong and Bumsi communities in demanding the city
authority to relocate the dump.
They said the city authority was negligent in allowing rubbish to be
thrown beside the road and not in the middle of the dump.
“The rubbish is dumped beside the roads and this is dangerous. People
are scavenging for things they can sell and they face the risk of being
run over by cars,” Mr Opald said.
“The smoke from the burning rubbish also presents another risk as well
as the smell.”
The police said this was not the first time someone was killed at that
place.
They said several children who hunted for waste food and other things to
sell were killed by cars in the past.
“About two months ago, a child was run over by a vehicle, another one is
fighting for his life at hospital now,” he said.
The Lae city authority was contacted for comment but the call was not
returned.
 
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