Heavy rain hits garbage collection, disposal in Bengaluru

Residents endure foul odour as contractors dump household waste at transfer points

Heavy intermittent rains lashing the city last week almost halted garbage collection and disposal in several wards, especially in and around Central Business District (CBD) areas.

Though garbage collection gradually returned to normalcy, the waste that had piled up over several days continues to affect people in some areas. Last week’s delay in collection and transport has turned garbage transfer points into dumping yards.

While transfer points are supposed to pass on waste collected from households to compactor trucks, contractors dumped the waste at the transfer points from auto tippers since the trucks were stuck in the sloppily maintained landfills.

The pounding rains carried leachate to adjoining residential areas leaving a foul odour in the air, as reported by residents of Pulakeshinagar near the Indian Gymkhana Club.

"The BBMP has designated a spot near the Indian Gymkhana Club as a waste transfer point. At any time, one can see auto tippers parked there with loads of garbage. Now, garbage has been dumped there for days,” said former Pulakeshinagar corporator Pradeep Reddy.

After repeated complaints from the residents about the stench, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials assured the waste will be cleared soon.

"Our compactor trucks could not move in and out of the landfills due to incessant rains. This affected transportation of garbage. But since garbage collection couldn’t be stopped, it was dumped at the transfer points temporarily," explained Sarfaraz Khan, BBMP's Joint Commissioner, Solid Waste Management.

Contractors have already been instructed not to dump garbage at the transfer points, Khan added.

"In normal circumstances, we would ask the staff to ensure auto tippers transfer the garbage directly to compactors," he reasoned, admitting that some contractors are still not complying with the system and the civic body will act against them.