Residents of southeastern Bengaluru on Sunday organised ‘Blood to Breathe’, a silent campaign for closing down the waste-processing unit in Somasundarapalya run by the Karna­taka Compost De­v­el­opment Corporation (KCDC) and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

At least 90 residents of HSR Layout, Kudlu Gate, Haralur, Haralukunte, Somasundarapalya and the surrounding localities took part in the blood donation camp held at Mount Litera Zee School, opposite the KCDC plant, to symbolise their pain of living close to the waste-processing unit.

Later on, the residents, including a large number of children, converged at the plant and held a sit-in, wearing black face masks to symbolise the air and dust pollution put out by the unit. Some of them scribbled messages such as ‘Shut down the plant’ on the plant’s compound.

“Garbage is being dumped here unscientifically. When the plant was started, the BBMP promised that only the garbage from the Bommanahalli zone would be processed here. But now, garbage from places like KR Market, Mahadevapura, JP Nagar and BTM Layout is being dumped here,” said Kamesh Rastogi, a member of Kudlu Gate, Haralur, Haralukunte, Somasundarapalya and Parangipalya (KHHSP) — a federation of residents’ welfare associations.

Around 200 tonnes of mixed waste enters the plant per day, twice its maximum capacity, according to the residents.

Kavitha Reddy, an environment activist, said the KCDC unit had “encroached upon” a part of the Somasundarapalya lakebed and was dumping the waste there, “literally killing” the waterbody. “We as citizens have been trying to reach out to the BBMP commissioner and higher officials but they are neither returning our phone calls nor responding to text messages,” she claimed.

On March 13, the residents had staged a snap protest against the BBMP’s last-minute decision to shut a meeting to redress their grievances. They have now vowed to continue the sit-in outside the KCDC unit until the BBMP shuts it down.

They sent back six garbage trucks that arrived at the plant on Sunday morning.
DH News Service