BENGALURU : It’s been two years since residents of Electronics City decided to take a stand against the toxic air coming from the Solid Waste Management plant (SWM) at Chikkanagamangala, and with protests and petitions creating a small stir at the BBMP’s doorstep, action is yet to be taken by the authorities. Last week’s protest had finally caught the attention of special commissioner (Admin, Health, SWM, AH, Welfare)
D Randeep who had agreed to meet the residents and hear their woes. According to residents, Randeep had agreed that the foul smell emitted from the plant was an issue and that garbage around the plant would be cleaned by the civic body as a one-time cleaning since the area belongs to the panchayat.
According to Randeep, however, the plant cannot be shut down since they have received consent from the pollution control board. However, Pranay Dubey, a resident of the area and who started the Twitter handle E-City rising, had complained to the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) four times, but all efforts have gone in vain. The residents of Doddanagamangala, Chikkanagamangala, Konappana Agrahara, GS Palya and other places from Electronics City phase 1 and phase 2 have staged two protests but have so far only been able to meet the special commissioner and await further action.
Randeep told CE that the residents were supposed to meet the Joint Commissioner and the engineer of the plant on Saturday and is yet to get an update from them. “We are bringing in an independent technical consultant from Chennai to study this. This will bring an outside view to the situation. The study will be done on March 6-7. We are also looking into the source of the toxic smell. Without these details, it is not possible to comment on whether the plant emits toxic gases,” he said. As of now, BBMP has agreed to install air quality check monitors as soon as the report is received from the Plant engineers.
According to residents, over 6,000 families in the area have been suffering daily because of the plant which has led to people developing skin allergies and children’s immunity levels have become low.
In addition, two bitumen plants will be coming up in the city where one plant will be in Chikkanagamangala. BBMP has called for tenders to attend to the city’s chronic problem of potholes by white topping major roads. Residents are now concerned that this plant may increase the toxic levels in the area.