Every few months, when the stench emanating from the water bodies and the dumpsite adjoining their village becomes unbearable, residents in the eight villages surrounding Mavallipura — where one of the four municipal solid waste treatment units or landfills are located — protest against their having to pay for the city's excesses.
The issue has once again come to the fore after residents there prevented garbage trucks from entering their backyard, blocking access to the landfill. Though the issue is being discussed and debated in the ongoing Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Council sessions, and the civic body has often promised to crackdown on the waste treatment agencies, a fair solution to this recurring issue till eludes.
In an interview to The Hindu , A.S. Sadashivaiah, chairman, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, lamented the fact that repeated notices from the KSPCB, the BBMP is still sitting on its hands and said the only way out was to chalk out a model that cuts our overdependence on landfills and focus on more localised solutions for waste treatment.
Excerpts:
Q. Residents near landfills have for long claimed that the indiscriminate and unregulated dumping of garbage has had an impact on their health and environment. What action does the KSPCB propose to take?
A. The KSPCB has, since March 2011, issued a series of notices to BBMP on this matter. We then asked the BBMP Commissioner to submit a time-bound action plan.
Our inspections found that the treatment was not happening properly, ambient air quality was not maintained and indeed villagers were suffering. Though the facility is run privately, the BBMP is responsible. As a monitoring body, we have communicated this to them over and over again but we got no response.
On our part, we set up a Complaints Redressal Committee to include us, the BBMP, residents, NGOs and local representatives.
Technically, what are the issues at the plant there? Are these specific to this one or do they issues arise with other landfills in the city?
We have received several complaints from landfills. In fact we got the one near Hoskote closed down. At this particular one, run by Ramky, only 200 tonnes of waste is being treated (against the 500-tonne capacity); but it receives 700 tonnes. Also, the leachate is not being treated at all, creating health hazards for residents.
It is not that things are fine at the other units in Mandur, Rajarajeswarinagar and near Electronics City either. We are taking these up as and when we receive complaints.
This problem with landfills is not exclusive to Bangalore. Last month, in neighbouring Kerala too this became a huge civic and political issue, even a war between gram panchayats and municipal bodies. But is there a way for us to create a new paradigm for municipal waste management, one that reduces dependence on such landfills?
Certainly. The only way out of this mess is to localise garbage treatment. As the BBMP itself mooted some time back, disposal of garbage should be done at a ward level.
Small apartments should be forced to set up units to segregate and treat their dry waste, at least partially. Actually, in some areas that are highly congested such as Shivajinagar or Majestic, it may not be possible to do this.
However, in areas such as Indiranagar or any of the peripheral areas it is very easy to do this. A part of parks can be utilised for this. So then the landfills can remain but only for treating garbage that comes from select areas.
