Deccan Herald launches website on Bangalore's garbage mess

Bangalore generates 4,000 tonnes of garbage everyday.The BBMP officials have taken the easy way out to dispose it - they just send it to a few landfills at nearby villages and dump them. The process is so unscientific, it violates every rule in the copybook.

These garbage dumps, some of which look like man-made hills from a distance, have played havoc with the local environment. They have perhaps irreversibly contaminated air, soil and water in the surrounding areas and destroyed lives.

The affected villagers periodically go on protest demanding BBMP to stop dumping and clean up their area. BBMP officials usually try to buy time, or if the protests threaten to get out of hand, they shut the existing landfill and look for new dumping yards to ruin other villages.

There has been no serious effort to find a scientific and environmentally sustainable solution for the garbage problem. Many allege that there is so much money in transporting garbage, vested interests come in the way. If a competent official tries to solve Bangalore's garbage problem, he will be shunted out before he can do any damage.

Deccan Herald has been actively covering the garbage issue for years now. This is a small effort to bring all our existing reportage on the subject on one platform. We also hope to nurture this site to highlight the problem, explore possible solutions, involve experts and trigger a debate on the bottlenecks.

An effort like this would not succeed unless we get everyone concerned involved. We invite blogs, articles, comments, suggestions, photos and videos from readers. The contributions should be in public interest and comply with the copyright laws in letter and spirit. We hope to make the site more interactive in the coming days.

You can access the new site at http://www.deccanherald.com/mandur

With thanks and regards,
Editor