The Cabinet on Thursday approved the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) proposal to acquire land to set up solid waste processing units. The BBMP had proposed purchasing around 1,076 acres of land in Doddaballapur and Koratagere to set up waste processing units, thereby reducing the burden on the existing landfills, especially in Mandur.
According to sources, the Cabinet approved the proposal to acquire 476 acres in Aroodi, Doddaballapur, and 600 acres in Togarighatta, Koratagere.
The government has now entrusted the Deputy Commissioner (Urban) to acquire the identified land on behalf of the BBMP and hand over the same.
Sources said that a special committee in the Deputy Commissioner’s (Urban) office will first have to fix the land rate before it can acquire the land.
The entire acquisition process is likely to be completed in around three months. Sources added that the BBMP would now get some respite and could show the High Court of Karnataka that efforts were being made in earnest to solve the garbage crisis in the city.
“We can also use the opportunity to convince the communities living around the landfills to bear with us for a while longer,” they added.
The BBMP is sending around 200 truckloads of garbage every day to landfills in Mandur, over 50 each to quarry pits in S. Bingipura and Lakshmipura and around 60 truckloads to a landfill managed by Terra Firma in Doddaballapur.
To prevent a similar crisis in future, the BBMP was also proposing acquiring an additional 1,000 acres — 500 acres in two different directions. “Waste processing centres could be set up here as well. The civic body will be able to save on transportation costs. With more units, there will no backlog in processing of waste, thereby there will be no accumulation of garbage,” sources added.
