Is garbage crisis looming large on Bangalore?

With villagers of Mandur up in arms against dumping of garbage and Pourakarmikas striking work on Thursday demanding their pending salaries, the city is likely to face another garbage mess.The Mandur villagers have not allowed a single truck carrying garbage to the landfill site. Meanwhile, there is no clearing of garbage in most parts of the city from Wednesday. Trucks carrying garbage are lined up enroute to Mandur expecting that BBMP officials would broker the peace.This situation is compelling the BBMP to depend on the old landfills that were used before the BBMP was formed in 2007.Following Pollution Control Board’s orders and protest by villagers, the Mavallipura landfill was closed in August. Terrafirma landfill near Doddballapur is exceeding its limit. Theonly option before the BBMP was to make use of old landfills, including abandoned quarry pits in Rajarajeshwarinagar and Mahadevapura. This also means that city garbage will not be sent away from its limits.Avalappa, a garbage truck driver with the BBMP, who takes garbage to Mandur everyday, told Express that he had been to the landfill site on Wednesday with garbage load. “Villagers sent us back. We came back and now parked the vehicles in our shed. As we did not unload waste from the truck on Wednesday night, we could not load the waste generated on Thursday. We are not going to Mandur, till we get instructions from our officers,” he said.Meanwhile, official sources in the BBMP told Express that they are sending 200 trucks by spraying strong deodorart chemicals. “We will also give villagers a list of vehicles sent by the BBMP. Other private garbage trucks are also going to the landfill site to dump. Because of the private trucks, the BBMP vehicles are being not allowed,” the officials added.Meanwhile, Mandur Gram Panchayat member Thammanna said that they did not allow any trucks inside on Thursday night. “We had sent more than 150 garbage trucks on Wednesday night. Our villagers are still here and stay here throughout the night. We have not received any communication from the BBMP,” he said.The waste collected from Bommanahalli zone was dumped at an abandoned quarry near Bannerghatta on Thursday. However, it was stopped following opposition from the locals.Pourakarmikas Strike WorkPourakarmikas working on contract basis staged a protest on Thursday seeking their pending salary. They were earlier getting a salary of `2,500 per month. Following their protest, the government increased their salary to `6,936 in April. Later, they received revised salary for two months. The BBMP is yet to pay their dues.BBMP Commissioner Rajneesh Goel assured them that their salary will be disbursed the 10th day of every month henceforth. Later, the Pourakarmikas assured that they will get back to work from Friday.

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