Residents around Varthur lake who have been fighting the rampant dumping of garbage claim that the most recent offender is none other than the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) itself. Earlier this week, several people noticed garbage trucks dumping mixed waste near a weir of the lake. The trucks, including a huge compactor and smaller tippers, had the BBMP logo emblazoned on them, they said.
“Varthur lake has two weirs (outlets) — Varthur Kodi and another near Varthur village. Garbage, full of plastic and other non-biodegradable ones, is being dumped at the weir near Varthur village,” said a resident.
The lake, along with neighbouring Bellandur, already has the ignominy of being one of the most polluted lakes in the city. Residents claim that this is not the first time that garbage has been dumped at the weir. The only shocking thing is that the civic body, which is supposed to regulate this, is guilty of doing the same thing, they said.
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A member of Whitefield Rising said photos of the BBMP vehicles dumping waste were sent via WhatsApp to Mahendra Jain, Additional Chief Secretary of the Urban Development Department; N. Manjunath Prasad, BBMP Commissioner; and Rakesh Singh, BDA Commissioner. “However, we have not got any response from any of them,” the member said.
Mr. Prasad was unavailable for comment. The Zonal Joint Commissioner told The Hindu that the BBMP would act against those responsible if the residents provided registration numbers of the vehicles found dumping mixed waste. “We will definitely file a police complaint, apart from levying a fine of ₹5 lakh on those responsible,” she said, and added that she would direct the zonal superintending engineer to submit a report in this regard.