With the State’s richest civic body, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), finding it difficult to manage the growing city’s solid waste, the State Cabinet on Wednesday decided to establish a separate entity, the Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Company.
It will be responsible for collecting, transporting, and processing waste to produce energy. While the BBMP will invest 51% in the newly formed organisation, the State government will contribute the remaining. The additional chief secretary will be the CEO of the company.
Briefing journalists after a Cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, Minister for Home and Law and Parliamentary Affairs Basavaraj Bommai said that the company would give focused attention to the mounting garbage. The city generates nearly 5,500 tonnes of solid waste daily, of which 4,500 tonnes is produced by households, he said. The company will have jurisdiction over the city areas and the Bengaluru Urban district, he said.
When the idea was first mooted last year, it received a mixed response with many former councillors in the Congress criticising the move. At that time, the former leader of the Opposition in BBMP council Abdul Wajid (Congress) had pointed out that it would cut into the autonomy of the civic body.
Of the seven solid waste management plants on the outskirts of the city, three — in Lingadheeranahalli, Seegehalli and Subbarayanapalya — have been shut for months on end. While a case pertaining to Lingadheeranahalli is being heard at the National Green Tribunal, there is a lot of opposition by the local communities living near the Subbarayanapalya and Seegehalli plants..
Testing centre
The Cabinet also cleared the Transport Department’s proposal to set up an automatic testing centre at Hoskote in Bengaluru Rural district, at an estimated cost of ₹14 crore.
