<p>Uncleared garbage is piling up in several parts of the City as the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) struggles to dump and process waste at various landfill sites. <br /><br />Garbage has not been cleared in such places as Ulsoor, Banashankari and Yarab Nagar for a fortnight now as people living close to various landfill sites on the City’s outskirts resist the dumping of waste there. <br /><br />Barely a week ago, villagers living around landfill sites run by TerraFirma and MSGP had staged a protest. Then, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had to face people’s anger at Lakshmipura and Bingipura landfill sites in Anekal taluk when he went on a tour of Bengaluru. <br /><br />Even S T Somashekar, the Yeshwantpur MLA belonging to the Congress party, strongly opposed the dumping of waste at the so-called processing units in his constituency.<br /><br />The Lakshmipura landfill site stopped taking in garbage two months ago following a fire accident, according to BBMP officials. As a result, parts of southern Bengaluru have been affected. <br /><br />Somashekar said that garbage had not been cleared in his constituency for a month now. “The BBMP has proposed to set up waste-to-energy plants at Kannahalli and Seegehalli which fall in my constituency,” he told Deccan Herald. <br /><br />“But even before the project is implemented, the garbage collected in other wards is being dumped there. I have complained to the BBMP commissioner and other officials and they have sought 15 days’ time to address the problem.” <br /><br />People living close to these landfill sites complain that contractors have resorted to burning the garbage due to paucity of space, filling the air with poisonous gases. <br /><br />“The TerraFirma waste-processing unit near Doddaballapur is spread over 100 acres and has been functional since 2006. The entire site is filled with mounds of garbage,” said a resident who didn’t want to give his name. <br /><br />“A few months ago, the entire mound was set on fire and the flames haven’t been fully doused, which is evident from the smoke billowing out of it. The MSGP garbage-processing unit near Chigarenahalli gets more garbage than it can process.” Nearly 200 garbage trucks enter these two landfill sites. <br /><br />BBMP Commissioner G Kumar Naik admitted that villagers were not allowing waste-processing units to function, resulting in a garbage problem in Bengaluru. <br /><br />But he held out hope that once new waste-processing plants were set up, the problem would be solved to some extent. He appealed to citizens to co-operate with the BBMP in operationalising the waste-processing plants. <br /></p>
<p>Uncleared garbage is piling up in several parts of the City as the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) struggles to dump and process waste at various landfill sites. <br /><br />Garbage has not been cleared in such places as Ulsoor, Banashankari and Yarab Nagar for a fortnight now as people living close to various landfill sites on the City’s outskirts resist the dumping of waste there. <br /><br />Barely a week ago, villagers living around landfill sites run by TerraFirma and MSGP had staged a protest. Then, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had to face people’s anger at Lakshmipura and Bingipura landfill sites in Anekal taluk when he went on a tour of Bengaluru. <br /><br />Even S T Somashekar, the Yeshwantpur MLA belonging to the Congress party, strongly opposed the dumping of waste at the so-called processing units in his constituency.<br /><br />The Lakshmipura landfill site stopped taking in garbage two months ago following a fire accident, according to BBMP officials. As a result, parts of southern Bengaluru have been affected. <br /><br />Somashekar said that garbage had not been cleared in his constituency for a month now. “The BBMP has proposed to set up waste-to-energy plants at Kannahalli and Seegehalli which fall in my constituency,” he told Deccan Herald. <br /><br />“But even before the project is implemented, the garbage collected in other wards is being dumped there. I have complained to the BBMP commissioner and other officials and they have sought 15 days’ time to address the problem.” <br /><br />People living close to these landfill sites complain that contractors have resorted to burning the garbage due to paucity of space, filling the air with poisonous gases. <br /><br />“The TerraFirma waste-processing unit near Doddaballapur is spread over 100 acres and has been functional since 2006. The entire site is filled with mounds of garbage,” said a resident who didn’t want to give his name. <br /><br />“A few months ago, the entire mound was set on fire and the flames haven’t been fully doused, which is evident from the smoke billowing out of it. The MSGP garbage-processing unit near Chigarenahalli gets more garbage than it can process.” Nearly 200 garbage trucks enter these two landfill sites. <br /><br />BBMP Commissioner G Kumar Naik admitted that villagers were not allowing waste-processing units to function, resulting in a garbage problem in Bengaluru. <br /><br />But he held out hope that once new waste-processing plants were set up, the problem would be solved to some extent. He appealed to citizens to co-operate with the BBMP in operationalising the waste-processing plants. <br /></p>
