Protests spread to villages near other landfills

Bangalore, June 4, 2014, DHNS:

The garbage crisis in the City has deepened further with protests spreading to the villages near other landfills at Terra Firma in Doddaballapur and the Karnataka Compost Development Corporation (KCDC) unit at Kudlu, off Hosur Road, Bommanahalli.

As Mandur on Hoskote Road is on the boil over the dumping Bangalore’s trash in the village, a desperate Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) scrambled to find a way to deal with the problem.
Its attempt to increase the intake at the KCDC facility has only triggered public anger. People residing near the landfill protested the dumping of garbage on Wednesday.
Their agitation is being backed by local corporator Syed Hasina Taj.
Taj told this newspaper that the facility was meant to receive only 19 truckloads of wet waste to be converted into compost, but the BBMP had started sending much larger quantities of mixed waste.
“Already, there are one lakh tonnes of mixed waste at the KCDC unit. Piling more garbage will make the lives of people residing nearby miserable.
Last night, we stationed trucks and earthmovers to block the road leading to the unit,” said Taj.
She said Mayor B S Sathyanarayana and BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana visited the KCDC unit and took stock of the situation.
They assured her that only wet waste would be dumped there.
The Palike also intends to divert garbage to Terra Firma landfill in Doddaballapur from Thursday.
K G Nanjundappa, General Manager, Terra Firma Biotechnologies Limited, on Wednesday told Deccan Herald that they were approached by the BBMP officials, including Commissioner M Laxminarayana, on June 3, regarding the possibility of diverting a few trucks going to Mandur to Terra Firma.
“Presently, around 48-50 trucks reach here mainly from Bangalore East, parts of Malleswaram, Shivajinagar and surrounding  areas.
We are taking just 300 tonnes of Palike waste every day, and our plants can handle only up to 600 tonnes. We have clearly told the Palike about this, and if they want to send garbage, it should not exceed 600 tonnes,” Nanjundappa said.
In bad shape
He said the villagers might protest if the Palike sends more trucks to Terra Firma landfill in the coming days.
Also, the trucks the civic agency sends to Mandur are in bad shape and will cause nuisance to the nearby villagers, he said.
It is said that the villagers living near the Terra Firma landfill have decided to launch a protest on Thursday.

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