Construction and demolitiondebris piling up in B'luru

Of late, it is not just the solid waste the civic agencies and the pollution control board officials are worried about. Construction and demolition waste (C&D) piling up across the city is posing a major challenge.

With the C&D waste accumulating by the day and nothing going to the landfills, officials from the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) are now encouraging people to use the C&D waste for their own works.

According to C&D waste rules of 2016, property owners should dispose of the C&D waste. As that is not happening it is piling up everywhere, Manoj Kumar, KSPCB member secretary said. He added that the rules also define that at least 60% of the C&D waste should be recycled. But this has had little impact as well.

Though the KSPCB and the BBMP identified a three-acre space to receive 1,000 tonnes of C&D waste per day in Chikkajalla in 2017, nothing has been dumped there so far. Bengaluru is the second city in India after Delhi to have a designated area for C&D waste.

“It is a good resource; people can utilise it. C&D waste consists of bricks, mud, rocks and much more. Some people have been taking small quantities to level their land in low lying areas. More people shall do the same,” Sarfaraz Khan, joint commissioner, health and solid waste management, BBMP told DH.

He said the BBMP is also looking for empanelled agencies - like quarry owners - to collect the C&D waste and utilise it.

Haphazard management of C&D waste has also agitated the chief secretary, T M Vijay Bhaskar, who is also reviewing the matter and how it should be handled.

KSPCB officials are in fact worried that the rule mandating penalising of those stocking C&D waste on roadsides has not been implemented till date by the BBMP. Due to this heaps of C&D waste continue to remain unattended across vacant sites and roadsides.