JOIN USAfter an eight-year ordeal, Mandur heaved a sigh of relief as the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) was instructed to stop dumping waste in the vicinity, though the official deadline is December 1. Garbage trucks are now being diverted to other locations, including the Mavallipura landfill, which was re-opened on Friday.
“For the last 10 days, we have been sending 400 tonnes of waste to Mandur. From today, we have stopped even that,” BBMP Special Commissioner for Solid Waste Management Darpan Jain said. However, there is a possibility of a few trucks carrying garbage to Mandur till the deadline ends, he added.
Engineers and joint commissioners from the Mahadevapura zone received directions from the special commissioner that no garbage should be sent to Mandur landfill from Friday.
Mahadevapura zone Joint Commissioner Gangadharaiah said he received an SMS from Jain on November 20 that Thursday would be the last day of dumping garbage at Mandur.
“We will divert the trucks to Terrafirma landfill at Doddaballapur and Karnataka Compost Development Corporation (KCDC) at Bommanahalli from Friday night,” he added.
Joint commissioners of Yelahanka and east zones also received instructions from Jain not to send garbage to Mandur and instead divert the trucks to other locations from Friday.
Joint Commissioner (Yelahanka Zone) Virupaksha Mysore, said: “The Mavallipura landfill has been reopened on Friday. The landfill will hold 300 MT tonnes of waste per day from east, west and Yelahanka zones.” Jain said that dumping of waste at S Bingipura, Terrafirma, Lakshmipur and Mavallipura will continue. The MSGP unit at Doddaballapur, which can process up to 500 tonne of waste, has started functioning. The capacity of KCDC plant is being increased from 300 to 500 tonne, he said.
Meanwhile, Bengaluru in-charge minister Ramalinga Reddy said BBMP has begun phasing out dumping garbage at Mandur landfill ahead of the December 1 deadline. “From Friday, Palike has started phasing out dumping garbage at Mandur. Quantity has been considerably reduced from today (Friday). It will be completely stopped by this month end, ” he said.
Residents of Mandur were in a jubilant mood on hearing news that the BBMP has been told to stop dumping waste in the vicinity. Plans are afoot to hold victory celebrations on a large scale. “We will hold a function on December 1 and honour freedom fighter H S Doreswamy and other leaders who supported us. We will also hold a feast and cultural programmes,” M A Sreenivas Gowda of Mandur told Deccan Herald.
Doreswamy said: “I am happy that the chief minister kept his word. The next focus should be on clearing the accumulated waste at the landfill. I will soon attend a meeting to be held by villagers to discuss the issue.”