'Don't kill our kids to keep your city clean' - Times of India

Rohith B R

BENGALURU: The garbage gridlock worsened on Thursday. As the muck piles grew larger in Bengaluru city, furious villagers of Dodda mankalala in Doddaballapur, about 50 kms away, dug their heels in. "Why should the future of our children be at stake just to keep Bengaluru clean?

Chief minister Siddaramaiah or Bengaluru in-charge minister KJ George can dump the city's waste in their backyard. Or dump it on the Golf Club in front of the CM's residence, Cubbon Park or in Lalbagh. We will drink poison but won't allow garbage into our neighbourhood."
When TV Rajanna made this statement on Thursday, there were about 150 residents from 40 surrounding villages, including women, to strengthen his voice.At the venue of the protest, four bottles of poison (pesticide) sat beside a photograph of Mahatama Gandhi. It is do or die for the villagers, who look up to Gandhi as their leader.
The villagers conveyed this message to BBMP officials who went to meet them in the evening, to c o nve y t h e chief minister's message that some of them should come to the city for a "compromise meeting". "We want the CM to come to our villages and understand the suffering we undergo every day. Till then, we are not moving from here," said Rajanna, a villager from Tanniranahalli. The officials had to return empty-handed.
With the villagers not allowing garbage trucks to enter Terra Firma and MSGP waste processing units here, garbage collection in the city has almost come to a halt.The protest entered the sixth day on Friday , and villagers have not abandoned their agitation, despite contrary claims by Bengaluru minister KJ George who met the villagers on Wednesday. The government reportedly struck a deal with them to allow waste to be dumped till the new processing units are opened.
"Forget about allowing fresh waste, we will not stop the agitation till the existing garbage is taken out of our villages,' said Govindaraju M, a resident of Kamana Agrahara.

When TOI visited the area on Thursday , villagers had erected two pandals and makeshift sheds on Doddamankalala road, which is the entry point for garbage trucks.They cook, eat, sleep here and have pooled in material and men for support. "On Thursday, we stopped two trucks, whose drivers said they were coming with garbage from Hubballi and going to visit Terra Firma. We have become a dumpyard for everyone's waste. We don't want villages here to turn this into another Mandur," said Ranganath T, another villager.

Prabhulinga Kavalakatti, joint commissioner, BBMP, said he would convey the villagers' message to the government. "We understand there are problems associated with garbage dumping here. We are trying our best to address the issue," he added.