Scrambling for options ahead of the closure of the landfill at Mandur by December 1, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has proposed reopening the Mavallipura landfill, near Yelahanka.
A proposal in this regard has been sent to the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), sources in the BBMP said.
The KSPCB had directed the BBMP to close down the Mavallipura landfill after local communities protested against the improper processing of waste that led to contamination of groundwater sources. The board issued a closure notice in July 2012.
BBMP sources said the civic body was proposing to take up only composting at the landfill. “We hope the KSPCB gives us the green signal to reopen the landfill. Initially, we will send only 300 tonnes of segregated wet waste to be converted to compost. We have identified the hotels and kalyan mantaps and the waste from there will be sent to Mavallipura,” the sources added.
Of the 4,000 tonnes of waste generated in the city, wet waste from hotels and kalyan mantaps comprises around 1,025 tonnes. While 250 tonnes of wet waste will be processed at a unit being set up at Doddaballapur, the remaining will be processed in Mavallipura.
Residents firmMeanwhile, Mavallipura resident B. Srinivas, who is also a member of the Dalit Sangharsh Samiti, Bangalore district committee, said the residents would not, at any cost, allow the BBMP to dump fresh waste at the landfill. The residents, he said, would cooperate with the BBMP only if the accumulated waste was processed.
“After the landfill was closed, the BBMP has not fulfilled any assurance that it made. That apart, the accumulated waste has not been processed at all nor has leachate been treated. After every spell of rain, leachate from the landfill flows into water bodies,” he pointed out. He added that a case pertaining to Mavallipura landfill was being heard in the High Court of Karnataka.
