JOIN USWaste plant intended to cut pollution adding to it: Residents
In the last week of January, residents living around a solid waste management plant near Electronics City saw what they regarded as the final straw: construction debris being brought in to cover a growing pile of “process reject” waste.
The 300-tonne capacity waste management plant at Chikkanagamangala has been no stranger to controversy. It has long attracted the ire of residents who complain of shoddy disposal procedures and the source of the stench in the area. However, now both affluent and poor who live in the vicinity of the plant claim the waste management plant is actually increasing the scale of environmental pollution in the area.
Deepu Chandran, a resident of the area, offered visual evidence that “process reject” waste has now grown to sizable proportions at the plant, that dumping is happening in a nearby quarry and that a stormwater drain which runs under the plant has been channelling dirty water and leachate into a pond outside the plant perimeter. “Consequently, groundwater is also getting contaminated,” Chandran added.
Reject waste is non-biodegradable or non-recyclable items. “As per the norms, such waste must be given to cement factories which can burn them as fuel. However, that ‘reject’ waste is not being moved out and we have noticed an effort is being made to cover the waste with construction debris,” Chandran said.
Randeep D, Special Commissioner, BBMP, said Covid-19 had disrupted the movement of process reject waste to cement factories but added that no wet waste is being dumped in the quarry, which falls within the boundaries of the plant. “Pains have been taken to prevent leachate from flowing out through a stormwater located under the plant,” he added.
However, according to Sridhar, a PhD student and resident of Chikkanagamangala, contaminated water has already had an effect. “Several cattle and dogs which drink out of the pond have died,” he said.
While Randeep said that plans had been made to pump out the contaminated water in the pond, residents allege that the water is dumped near Chikkanagamangala, adding to environmental degradation.
The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) acknowledged several lapses have happened at the plant, but added key corrective measures were recently introduced. “On January 20, for the first time, the board called all the joint commissioners overseeing waste management plants and reviewed them individually. One key decision has been to book cases on those JCs directly who do not rectify the problems. Gone are the days when they could hide behind the commissioner,” said KSPCB Member Secretary Srinivasulu.
He added: “Consequently, things have started moving in the last 15 days that were not moving in the last 15 months. We have to give them some time to carry out changes. It will not happen overnight.”