Several loads of garbage from Bengaluru have been mysteriously appearing in many areas on the city’s outskirts. Ever since problems erupted in areas surrounding the processing units, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has been trying its might to ensure that the city is rid of the festering garbage.
Over the past few weeks, garbage mounds have appeared along Bengaluru–Mysuru highway, near Ramanagaram, Nelamangala and Devanahalli. Just a few days ago, garbage was found dumped on the sly in open spaces in Kengeri and Ullal, on the city’s outskirts.
Kengeri councillor V.V. Satyanarayana said that after he found a few truckloads of mixed waste dumped clandestinely in his ward, he complained to Mayor B.N. Manjunath Reddy and BBMP Commissioner G. Kumar Naik. “We found that private garbage vehicles with ‘security’ would come in a convoy and dump waste in the middle of the night. Now, the night rounds by the BBMP’s Prahari team have been intensified to prevent the indiscriminate dumping,” he said.
However, garbage contractor and member of Bengaluru Mahanagara Garbage Lorry Owners’ Association S.N. Balasubramanyam blamed BBMP officials for the indiscriminate dumping. He said that BBMP engineers and health officials, who want to ensure that their jurisdictions were clean, hire earthmovers and 10-wheeled trucks to clear the accumulated waste. “The cost for clearing each such load will be not less than Rs. 10,000. The garbage is cleared, but the drivers are not given a designated place where the waste can be dumped. Also, BBMP officials fleece local contractors to pay for the clearing of the accumulated waste,” he charged.
The Mayor refuted the allegations and said the BBMP was already suffering the consequences of having dumped garbage in villages without any processing. “It is the contractors who tell their drivers to dump indiscriminately, as they don’t want them wasting time waiting to dump waste at the designated processing units,” he added.
