6 months on, fumes still rising from trash at Terra Firma

Fumes are still emanating from the mounds of garbage at Terra Firma landfill more than six months after a fire broke out there.

This was noticed during Bengaluru Development Minster K J George’s visit to Terra Firma and MSGP waste-processing units on Wednesday. He was accompanied by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials.

According to protesting villagers, Terra Firma had agreed that compost would be generated out of the wet waste. But there is no sign of it there. There is a bio-energy generation unit but it remains non-functional.

Sources said Terra Firma had bought the land for agricultural purposes. As per records, it bought 23 acres of land to dump garbage, but the landfill is spread over 100 acres. George said the Revenue Department had also found that pasture land was being used to dump garbage.

“Scientific disposal of all the waste collected at Terra Firma and MSGP units will take at least 15 years,” a BBMP official said.