The State government has embarked upon a comprehensive initiative to tackle Bengaluru city’s garbage that includes setting up a mega waste recycling park on 2,000 acres of land near Madhugiri of Tumakuru district, on the lines of Seoul.
Announcing this at a press conference here on Tuesday, Minister for Bengaluru City Development K.J. George said the Urban Development Department had zeroed in on the land which was located at a distance of about 120 km from Bengaluru. The Department would soon write to the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) to initiate the process for getting the land through consent process instead of acquisition in a bid to prevent litigation that would delay the project, he said.
Based on the opinion from KIADB, the Urban Development Department would place the issue before the State Cabinet to get its clearance. The park, almost near the State border, would have a state-of-the-art facility for not only turning garbage into energy, but also processing it. This would not affect the neighbouring areas as the process of treating the garbage would be done in a scientific manner on the lines of the Seoul initiative. The park would have a tall compound wall and a large number of trees, Mr. George said.
In addition to this, a New Delhi-based firm had come forward to set up waste treatment plants that would also generate power at about 30 locations in Bengaluru. Already, 15 to 20 plots with an area of about 10,000 square feet each had been identified for setting up such plants that work in an eco-friendly manner, the Minister said. According to him, it may take about six to eight months to set up such plants.
Similarly, a high-power committee of the government would hold a meeting with various companies on June 5 to decide their proposals for setting up waste-to-energy plants. The government was also considering a proposal to turn the seven waste processing centres in the city into waste-to-energy units, the Minister noted.
Meanwhile, Mr. George denied reports that the hi-tech dustbins being installed in the busy areas of the city on a pilot basis had marked the failure of the door-to-door garbage collection system. Making it clear that the door-to-door garbage collection system was functioning effectively, he said the hi-tech dustbins were being installed only in the commercial and busy areas such as Cubbon Park, Lal Bagh and M.G. Road to improve visual cleanliness. The city would get 2,000 more such dust bins, he said.
