Eerie calm in the village

The protest site at the entrance of Mandur village that was, until late Tuesday evening, buzzing with activity is now desolate, but for a few plastic chairs and steel tables. The shamiyana was removed, not long after the residents called off their protest against dumping of garbage in the village.

When The Hindu team visited the village on Wednesday afternoon, an eerie calm prevailed. It seemed like all was back to normal at the village, which for nearly 17 days witnessed protests and hunger strikes by the residents whose main demand was for the BBMP to stop dumping garbage.

At the landfill site, mud is being poured over the garbage by huge earthmovers. Officials at the site claimed that spraying of effective microbes (EM) solution has been taken up. This, along with covering the garbage with mud, will help quell the stench to some extent, they added.

Skeptical

Though the residents have withdrawn their protest and agreed to allow dumping for another five months, many seem doubtful of BBMP meeting this deadline. However, the BBMP appears to be confident of setting up processing units and eventually stop sending garbage to Mandur landfills.

BBMP Commissioner M. Lakshminarayan told

The Hindu that the civic body, which had committed to reducing the quantum of garbage sent to Mandur landfills, is in the process of preparing an action plan for the same. He said that he had directed the zonal commissioners to prepare an action plan for effective solid waste management for the particular zones. “These plans will be consolidated and an action plan for the city will be formulated,” he said.

He also said that a few zones, such as Yelahanka and South, had already resolved to not send any garbage to Mandur. The two core zones – West and East – have been asked to draw up plans. “We are stressing on in-situ waste processing as far as possible, so that dependency on landfills will reduce,” he added.