Residents of Somasundarapalya and surrounding areas prevented garbage trucks from entering the Karnataka Compost Development Corporation (KCDC) plant on Sunday. Later in the day, after talks with a BBMP official failed, they decided to sit outside the plant’s gate throughout the night.
Residents have been demanding that the plant be shut down as the foul odour and leachate from it are making it difficult for them to live in the area. Around 70 residents stopped eight trucks until evening. “We will stay put here all night until officials come to meet us,” said Kavitha Reddy, member of the Kudlu, Haralukunte, Hosapalya, Somsundarapalya, and Parangipalya Residents’ Welfare Association.
However, they decided to go on with the protest after BBMP Joint Commissioner (Bommanahalli zone) Veerabhadra failed to persuade them to end their agitation. People are furious that none of the officials turned up for a meeting held last week to discuss the problem of smell emanating from the plant. While the plant has a capacity to process 75 tonnes of organic waste, people say that 150 tonnes of mixed waste is sent to the plant. “Some of the trucks that stopped had less then 50% of wet waste ... most of it was mixed,” said Anis Padela, an RWA member.
Protesters alleged that ever since the plant was reopened in 2013, they have been tolerating the stench. Many report that they have got skin allergies and children are falling sick easily. “When I moved here four years ago, I had no particular health issues. A year-and-a-half ago, I started getting reddish spots all over my skin. Doctors cannot pinpoint what has caused them,” said Prakash, who lives near the plant. “Children are catching allergies and cold,” said a resident
Another complaint was borewell water getting contaminated owing to leachate from the plant seeping underground. On February 24, mounds of waste kept in the plant at Somasundarapalya had caught fire, adding to the residents’ woes. Protesters countered the official claim that the smell has reduced in the last few months. “At 4 a.m., or when there is a strong breeze, it is impossible to breathe because of the stench. All we can do is close the windows and try not to suffocate,” said Thomas, another resident who has developed skin allergies.
BBMP Commissioner (Solid Waste Management) Sarfaraz Khan said that it was not possible to shut down the plant for the want of a few residents, considering the problem the city has in dealing with garbage. “We are implementing two methods — bio-filters and wind rows (where leachate will dry in rows before being sent out) — and we request residents to give us some time to get these systems up and running,” Mr. Khan said.
The plant was started in 1975 and was shutdown in 2000 after residents complained of the foul stench, and was reopened in 2013 after a High Court directive.
While leachate has stopped, sewage continues to pollute this lake
While residents have managed to stop leachate from the Karnataka Compost Development Corporation (KCDC) plant in HSR Layout into the nearby Somasundarapalya lake, it continues to be polluted by sewage flowing into it.
“Sewage from Bomanahalli ward as well as from households surrounding the lake bed flow into the lake,” said Anis Padela, a resident of Somasundarapalya, adding, “We have written to BWSSB. However, action is yet to be taken.”
Foul-smelling sewage flows into the lake through a channel behind the KCDC plant, polluting its water. On one end of the lake bed, construction waste and gravel have piled up, adding to the pollution.
A little more than a month ago, residents had got another drain sealed after they discovered leachate flowing into the lake. At the time, Sarfaraz Khan, Joint Commissioner, SWM, BBMP, had said that leachate was let into the lake for a short period by accident.
BWSSB Chief Engineer Ram Krishna said that the areas from where sewage was entering the lake came under CMC TMC areas, where UGD work was still undergoing. Another portion came from the 110 villages where BWSSB has not provided UGD network. “The complete network linking these CMC TMC areas will be completed by end of April, and that should solve 75% of the problem,” Mr. Krishna said. He added that Somasundara lake also got polluted during rain when leachate flowed naturally into the lake.
