Closure of 6 waste units led to city's downfall in cleanliness survey

It's back to landfills, segregation at source yet to take off fully

 Poor waste management has taken a toll on ‘Brand Bengaluru’ as the city stood a distant 210th among 434 cities and towns in the latest cleanliness survey carried out by the Central government.

Bengaluru’s overall score was 968 (Municipal Self-Declaration: 365, On-site Observation: 269 and Citizen Feedback: 334).

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) resolutions on plastic ban, segregation of waste at source, penalty for littering, spitting and public urination were a non-starter, not to mention the rampant dumping of garbage in lakes, stormwater drains and burning them at public places. The insufficient number of public toilets also contributed in Bengaluru’s poor performance in Swachh Survekshan 2017.

The garbage problem that raised its ugly head in 2012 refuses to go away. To aggravate the problem, six waste-processing units, which were disposing of about 1,500 tonnes of waste generated in the city, remained shut following protests and poor handling of garbage. A major fire in September 2016 led to closure of the waste-processing plant at Kannahalli. The BBMP is yet to recover from the blow. The capacity of waste-processing units has not been increased as the BBMP failed to utilise about 18 lakh tonnes of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF).

Kathyayini Chamaraj of Civic Bangalore said: “We are back to the days of landfill sites. All the waste generated in the city is not processed but dumped in the quarries.”

She rued that segregation of waste at source had come to a standstill as municipal workers were not carrying separate bins. “Ragpickers should collect dry waste and municipal workers wet waste. This model will also benefit the ragpickers financially,” she said.

N S Ramakanth of Solid Waste Management Round Table, however, differed. He wondered why Bengaluru was ranked so low when the segregation of waste at source in the city was “the best in India”. “Waste-processing facilities in Bengaluru are the best in India. Nowhere would you see these types of units. We have the best waste segregation model, too,” he insisted.

Nonetheless, he felt the survey report would prove a wake-up call for officials and public representatives.
Bengaluru Development Minister K J George said the ranking was low because six waste-processing units were shut when the survey was in progress. In addition, open defecation is still prevalent. “We lost 2,000 points straightaway as the waste units were not functioning and open defecation was prevalent. We will make a point to improve the ranking next year,” he said.

George called for restructuring the BBMP and dividing it into two or more municipal corporations. “Mumbai and Delhi have more than one municipal corporation which makes governance easier. The BBMP restructuring bill is awaiting Presidential assent,” he said.

‘Probe waste management firms’

Samaj Parivartana Samudaya founder president S R Hiremath on Friday urged the state government to conduct a comprehensive investigation against Terra Firma Bio Technologies (TFBT) and MSGP Infratech limited for not following the rules laid down by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in disposal of solid waste, reports DHNS from Hubballi.

Speaking to reporters, Hiremath said that prima facie evidence suggest that there exists a ‘garbage mafia’ that is not carrying out waste management as per the norms and, subsequently destroying evidence by periodically setting the garbage dumping units on fire. This has led to grave waste management crisis in Bengaluru.

He said that this was a significant issue in waste management and related ranking of clean cities. In the 'Swachh Survekshan-2017', in which Bengaluru has been pushed to 210th position in the all-India ranking. “This shows the rot in the system and the nexus, resulting in Bengaluru getting defamed.”

Hiremath blamed the directors of the two companies, Ganesh of TFBT and Praveen of MSGP for violating the rules and causing health hazards to people living near the dumping yards.