JOIN USMavallipura landfill may reopen as Mayor does a volte face
Mayor Venkatesh Murthy has gone back on his word to incorporate the clause, about permanently shutting down the garbage dumping yard at Mavallipura, in the resolution passed at the Palike Council meeting.
The resolution says that the Mavallipura dumping yard will remain open only till 40 lakh tonnes of unprocessed waste is cleared. Once all the garbage is disposed, the Palike has said it will take the approval of Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) to re-open the landfill. The Mayor, bowing to pressure from the villagers and Yelahanka MLA S R Vishwanath, had agreed on Wednesday to close the Mavallipura landfill. Murthy had also agreed to act against Ramky Enviro Engineering Limited for failing to dispose garbage scientifically. But the Council decided that a high level investigation committee would look into taking action against Ramky, which allegedly flouted the Municipal Solid Waste Management and Handling Rules, 2000.
Ruling party leader N Nagaraju said BBMP would get permission from KSPCB to re-open the landfill, after addressing the issues raised by the Mavallipura residents.
The Council decided to release Rs eight crore for the development of Mavallipura. There will be health camps once a week for residents of Mavallipura and surrounding areas.
Drinking water would also be provided to them. The Palike will also provide a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the family of Srinivas, who died during a protest against dumping of garbage. Criticising the BJP, Opposition leader Gunashekar raised the issue of cancelling the licence granted to Ramky, which has been functioning at Mavallipura despite being issued a notice in 2011 by KSPCB, for violating the rules.
He appealed to the Mayor to adopt a resolution to make garbage segregation at source mandatory.
Meanwhile, Hanumanthanagar corporator and former Mayor K Chandrashekar (Congress) said garbage contractors were violating close to 17 clauses out of the 26 which had been incorporated in the garbage contracts awarded in 2006-07.
According to him, one particular clause which speaks of the segregation of waste into wet and dry before disposal on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays was never implemented.
“On the three days mentioned in the contract, the garbage contractors were to segregate the waste and transport the dry waste to the landfills. This was never adhered to,” he said.
Chandrashekar alleged that there might be hidden agenda (land mafia) to clear the Mavallipura and Mandur landfills. BJP corporator N R Ramesh named two people, claiming that they were part of Aishwarya Developers and creating sites in the buffer zone around Mandur.
“The names of D K Mohan and Narayan Reddy are there for everyone to see. When Jyotiramalingam was the Commissioner, these developers pressured him to reduce the buffer zone around Mandur landfill to just 200 metres,” he alleged.