Bingipura says no to City's garbage

Mayor Manjunath Reddy seeks a month to stop dumping of waste at landfill site

Garbage clearance is likely to be affected for some more days in southern parts of the City with people living around the S Bingipura landfill site off Anekal threatening on Sunday to stop trucks carrying waste.

Following the protest by local residents who locked the gates of the landfill site on Saturday and stopped the garbage trucks, Mayor B N Manjunath Reddy visited the area on Sunday.

He sought a month’s time from locals to stop dumping at the landfill site. But the residents did not budge and told the mayor that they will not allow the trucks to enter the landfill as their lives have turned miserable due to dumping of garbage in their village.

Reddy said that till an alternative solution is chalked out by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the residents have to bear the stench.

He made a slew of promises such as organising a health camp every week, converting the 20-acre dumpyard into park at a cost of Rs 15 crore and laying of drinking water pipes by  Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board ( BWSSB) at a cost of Rs 1.75 crore. The Rs-15 crore package includes setting up of a water purification unit.

Chinnappa A , a local resident, said the Palike was not conducting health camps, fogging, mud-capping as promised. To this, Reddy said that he aware of the problems, particularly the groundwater contamination.

“Presently, around 500 metric tonnes of garbage is dumped at Bingipura landfill. Mud-capping will be undertaken soon to control the stench emanating from dumpyard," Reddy said.

Members of Dodda Thogur Grama Panchayat, under which the landfill falls, said that  they will allow the trucks to unload garbage only if mud-capping is done. “If they do not cover the garbage with mud, we will continue our protest. Presently, about 300 trucks are entering  Bingipura,” said Anil Kumar, the gram panchayat president.

The mayor told Deccan Herald that a new waste-processing plant would come up at Chikkanagamangala in Sarjapur hobli of Anekal taluk with a capacity to process 2,500 tonnes of garbage. “All the civil works have been completed and it will take a month for it to become operational. Once functional, the trucks entering Bingipura will be diverted to Chikkanagamangala,” he added.