Waste management continues to be a problem for the civic body, which is struggling to find alternatives after the Urban Development Department rejected a tender for setting up a scientific landfill at Mittaganahalli.
The tender was rejected on the grounds that the bidder did not have prior experience in either setting up or maintaining a scientific landfill. According to civic officials, however, these issues were discussed during pre-bid meetings and the BBMP had decided to relax the conditions.
“Before the tender was cancelled, the UDD did not call for a meeting of the empowered committee as well. We have urged the department to place the tender before the committee for a detailed discussion. We have also sent the proceedings of the pre-bid meetings,” an official said.
While attempts are being made to get the department to revoke its decision, the move has come as a setback to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), which continues to rely on landfills for the disposal of mixed waste.
It currently operates a temporary landfill at Mittaganahalli, which is fast filling up. Since the closure of Bellahalli quarry pit around three months ago, the civic body, as a stop-gap arrangement, has been dumping mixed waste in the smaller landfill at Mittaganahalli.
“The temporary landfill will reach full capacity either by the end of this month or early next month. The tender for the scientific landfill was floated to provide an alternative,” an official said and added that with time of the essence, the civic body was not in a position to float another tender.
Senior officials said, as per the tender condition, only inert waste could be dumped at the Mittaganahalli quarry, which is spread over six acres. This, after extracting all the recoverables from the mixed waste. This was done to ensure that the landfill lasted at least five years, by which time, the civic body had planned to increase the capacity of the processing plants, apart from having many more decentralised processing units within the city.
“Already, the number of vehicles being sent to the quarry pit has been reduced. On an average, around 300 vehicles carrying approximately 2,000 tonnes are sent to the landfill every day. Since the closure of Bellahalli quarry pit, the number of vehicles has been reduced by at least 50,” an official said.
The BBMP has also increased the processing capacity of the plants. From processing around 800 tonnes a day, the units now receive approximately 1,200 tonnes a day.
Currently, Lingadheeranahalli and Subbarayanapalya units are not receiving any waste. The case pertaining to Lingadheeranahalli will come up before the National Green Tribunal on January 17. Waste is not being sent to Subbarayanapalya for the past two months following a case of vandalism.
Senior officials said the zonal joint commissioner had been directed to meet the local communities soon to convince them to allow the civic body to reopen the plant. “Once both the units are allowed to operate, the quantum of waste processed will increase,” officials added.
