Bengaluru woman fights apartment association over sewage disposal
BENGALURU: Some residents of an apartment complex, headed by a woman, have been fighting for the past four years against the alleged mismanagement of sewage which is being dumped into local water bodies around the building in Bommanahalli.
Prema Mistry, who stays at Prestige Tranquility, has made several appeals, but they have fallen on deaf ears of the government and civic bodies. She is now planning to approach the National Green Tribunal as the Prestige Tranquility Apartment Owners Association (PTAOA) has slapped a defamation case against her. She has documented the mismanagement and filed multiple complaints with the authorities, besides posting pictures and videos of the dumping on Twitter.
Prema’s efforts led the regional office of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to order an investigation in March and found that sewage treatment plants at the building complex were not certified by independent experts. It also found multiple violations pertaining to hygiene at STPs, untrained personnel manning them, sumps designated for rainwater being contaminated with sewage and pumped into Bommanahalli Lake and sewage water pumped into a stormwater drain.
The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), in its report, had expressed doubts over the quality of treated water and the efficiency of STPs. But nothing was done to rectify the situation. The investigating team concluded in March that the issues needed rectification, and a compliance report be submitted between 30 and 60 days. Dr Dola Bhattacharjee, Research Officer, Regional Office, MoEF&CC, who was part of the investigating team, said, “Although we sent a reminder to the association (PTAOA), no report has been filed yet.”
Kiran Kumar, PTAOA president, said, “We are in a containment zone thanks to Covid. We haven’t been able to get vendors from outside to do any repairs and we’ve let the relevant authorities know. However, we would have no reason to dump sewage. The allegations of dumping are false. Sewage is disposed of through an approved vendor from BWSSB.”
Prestige Property Management and Services (PPM&S), which provides maintenance for Prestige Group properties, has washed its hands of citing legalities. Prema said, “A lot of people aren’t aware of violations. If the pollution control board doesn’t act, I will escalate it to NGT.”