Prayers answered, say Mandur residents

For residents of Mandur, Monday was a day to celebrate the end of garbage dumping at the landfill in their village. They offered prayers and closed the landfill gate with a huge sigh of relief.

Residents said that it was a historic day for them and thanked the State government and Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for keeping their word by not dumping the waste from December 1, the official deadline.

Around 2,000 residents gathered at Bhuvaneshwari Temple in the village and offered prayers. They took out a procession and bursted firecrackers.

Later, residents headed to the landfill area and again burst crackers atop the heaps of waste that resembled mountains. Finally, they closed the gates leading to the landfill area.

Gopal Rao, a resident, told Deccan Herald “We will not forget this day as it marks the end of our miseries and symbolises our victory. We burst crackers worth Rs 50,000 and in the coming days we are planning to invite Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to Mandur so that we can felicitate him in front of the villagers here.”

Lakshmi, another resident, said that she was happy that the State government had advanced the deadline. However, the next step should be clearing the accumulated waste at the landfill, she added.

Dumping waste in pit

A few residents rued that for the past four to five days, the BBMP had started to dump the waste in a pit located near the landfill compound.

Rao said: “We observed that the waste that lay near the Gayatri Srinivas plant is being lifted and thrown inside the pit already filled with water. The pit is 30 to 40 feet deep. We asked the civic agency not to dump it there on November 30.”
Freedom fighter H S Doreswamy, who had led the agitations in the past, said that a few villagers had brought the issue to his notice.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, he said “The problem of garbage dumping has ended. But problems such as water contamination, stench still exists due to piling up of waste at the landfill. The BBMP should first set up a bio-remediation plant at the landfill and if it is successful, more could be set up.”
DH News Service