The BJP-ruled Bangalore civic administration haspromised to rid country's IT hub from thousands of tonnes of overflowinggarbage by Monday but doubts persist as its hunt for land to dump it has notmade much headway.
The promise stems from the small success Chief MinisterJagadish Shettar, the third Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leader to head thestate government in four years, had with residents of Mandur on Bangaloreoutskirts to allow resumption of garbage dumping in the landfill near theirarea.
The residents around Mandur, about 45 km north of Bangalore,have agreed to do so only for one month on several conditions which Shettar hasagreed.
The conditions include compensation for crop loss because ofwater pollution from the dumped garbage, supply of clean drinking water by theBangalore civic agency through tankers, measures to check the stink from theaccumulated garbage.
With Bangalore generating around 5,000 tonnes of garbagedaily, there is little space left in the Mandur landfill area to receive it.Hitherto it was being dumped in two other landfills, besides Mandur.
Of the two, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board hasordered closure of one at Mavallipura, the biggest of the three landfillsspread over 48 acres. The other one nearby is known as Terra Firma landfill asit managed by that firm. All three are in Doddaballapur taluk or revenue subdivision,about 45 km north of Bangalore.
Bangalore Mayor D. Venkatesh Murthy said the civic body -Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) or Greater Bangalore City Corporation- will remove the accumulated garbage to Mandur by Monday.
Murthy Friday had promised to clear the garbage within 72hours, this was followed after Shetter met villagers around Mundur dumpyardlate Thursday.
Additional trucks and workers would be deployed for thepurpose, Murthy said.
Shettar has also promised to engage at the earliest privatefirms with expertise in waste disposal as a permanent solution to the problem,which has been getting worse by the month as Bangalore population continues togrow at a rapid pace spurred by job opportunities in IT, health, hospitality andrealty sectors.
In a decade between 2001 and 2011 the city population hasgrown enormously from around five million to over eight million, largelybecause of the its transformation as country's IT hub, which in turn led toboom in realty, hospitality, retail and health sectors.
Efforts by the civic authorities and several NGOs topopularize segregation of waste at home has not had much impact, worsening theproblem created by lax BBMP in proper disposal of waste.
The citizens have reason to feel let down by the BBMP as ithas been mopping up millions of rupees from them in the name of solid wastemanagement cess.
For instance, a person residing in 1,200 sq feet house hasto pay monthly Rs.30 as waste disposal cess. The cess is higher for commercial,industrial and hotel establishments.
A small relief from the garbage mess could be that BBMP maykeep in abeyance its proposal to double the solid waste management cess fromnext year.