The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday sought a status report from the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on its two waste disposal sites at Mavallipura and Mandur.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice B.V. Nagarathna issued the direction while hearing public interest litigation (PIL) petitions on the city’s garbage crisis.
It was pointed out that the Mavallipura waste disposal site, ordered to be closed in July by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), has been allowed to operate with effect from October 25 as the environmental issues were addressed.
More than permitted
However, BBMP Commissioner Rajneesh Goel said the problem with these sites was that the BBMP was forced to overshoot the quota of waste every day due to lack of other available sites.
Meanwhile, the counsel for some petitioners told the court that 52 acres earmarked for Mavallipura site had been “diverted for real estate” and the buffer zone around the site reduced.
The Bench was told the Mavallipura site is located very close to the Indian Air Force (IAF) base at Yelahanka in violation of rules, contributing to bird hits.
When the counsel for the garbage contractors pointed out that protesting local communities had damaged some 70 garbage lorries — destroying one completely — near Mandur, the Bench sought status report on the waste disposal site.
A roadmap
Commissioner Rajneesh Goel told the court a roadmap is being prepared with government help to put in place a decentralised garbage management system.
To this, the Bench asked him in a lighter vein whether the city had any road left at all what with every road choked with garbage.
Adding to Mr. Goel’s discomfiture, the Bench advised him to have his eyes professionally checked as he had claimed that no garbage lies in the street “for more that 24 hours”.
