IT company raises it voice against city garbage

After seeing citizens’ protests over the burgeoning garbage crisis, Bengaluru on Friday witnessed a paradigm shift in the nature of complaints as a tech company too joined the public chorus. For the first time, a prominent IT company registered its protest against the piles of garbage in the city.

Taking note of indiscriminate dumping of garbage around Divyasree Tech Park in Kundalahalli, Gilbert Millicent Nathan, director of Corporate Affairs, Huawei Technologies India Pvt Ltd shot off a formal complaint to the local MLA.

Ever since the city became the hub of IT activities, Mahadevapura-Whitefield has been the centre of R&D for several IT majors like Accenture, GE, Capgemini, Wipro and Qualcomm and has been contributing to the BBMP’s coffers. However, it is one of the most neglected zones of BBMP.

“It has been a year-and-a-half since MLA Aravind Limbavali visited the place with BBMP and police officials. The condition has just worsened now and the problem of dumping and its ill-effects have increased manifold,” said Nathan. According to him, close to 7,000 people work in the tech park and this is posing a serious health hazard to all the employees at the workplace.

“There is an open tract of land of approximately 10-15 acres. People often illegally dump construction debris, garbage by bulk generators and at times even the BBMP dumps garbage at the site. The piled-up garbage emanates terrible stench and the toxic air is inhaled by thousands of people who commute here. This is posing a severe threat to the health of the workforce,” he added. He also that said at times, garbage is burnt, leading to smog and release of toxins into the air.

When DH tried to contact the Mahadevapura zonal officials, there was no response. However, Sarfaraz Khan, joint commissioner, health and solid waste management, BBMP said, “Mahadevapura zone has a lot of problems. One of them is shortage of garbage autos and there are a lot of multi-dwelling units and bulk generators. I will inspect the place next week,” said Khan.

Nathan also said that they will send another formal complaint to the MLA and the BBMP officials. “We are waiting for the other companies to speak out against this,” he said.