A burning crisis in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: People living in the vicinity of Chiikkasubbanna Road, within Hagadur Ward, in Mahadeva Pura (Bengaluru East Corporation limits), often witness an absolute nightmare: unidentified people burning garbage at night, causing severe air pollution.

Anupama, a resident of the area, says that with doors closed, her air pollution monitor showed a PM 2.5 reading of 247 on the night of October 4—a level indicating very unhealthy air quality that might lead to serious health effects for vulnerable groups, particularly older people and those with underlying health conditions.

The issue is not new. The city has grappled with waste management issues for decades, tracing back to the 1980s when rapid urbanisation outpaced civic infrastructure. By the 2000s, Bengaluru was generating over 2,000 tonnes of waste per day, much of it unsegregated. 

The Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Report (2021) estimated that nearly 15–20% of municipal waste is still burnt illegally, releasing toxic pollutants such as particulate matter (PM2.5), carbon monoxide, and dioxins. These emissions contribute to the city’s deteriorating air quality—Bengaluru’s average AQI frequently crosses 120 in certain zones, well above safe limits.

Despite the Karnataka High Court’s repeated interventions since 2012, enforcement remains patchy. Citizen-led initiatives and segregation drives, notably after the 2012 landfill crisis, have improved awareness but not eliminated the problem.

The combination of plastic waste, poor segregation, and inadequate processing infrastructure keeps fuelling small-scale fires across neighbourhoods.

When school grapples with soot

Ravindra, a 65-year-old citizen from the erstwhile Hemmigepura ward in South Bengaluru, sees garbage dumped and burned regularly on Holiday Village Road, especially near a government high school. 

“We have gone door-to-door asking people not to dump garbage, but people don’t listen. They come on bikes, throw garbage and run away. The garbage is later burned, but we don’t know who does it. It causes health hazards to the students at the school. This needs to stop,” says Ravindra. 

There is a coconut farm close by. The leaf litter there is sometimes burned, too. “We can’t live here, the soot fills the atmosphere sometimes and leads to health issues,” he adds.

This is not an isolated case. The city’s avenue trees shed leaf litter during winter. Burning leaf litter during winter is a common practice in the city, and the city administration’s and citizen activists’ campaigns to compost it have not yielded good results.

Gowdaiah H K, a resident of Sir M Vishweswaraiah Layout, Ullal ward in Bengaluru West Corporation, says garbage and leaf litter burning is indiscriminate in his area as well, especially on the outskirts of the current Bengaluru West.

“BBMP had designated a place for a dry waste collection centre, which did not happen due to administrative issues. Now garbage vehicles come and dump waste in it, and regularly burn waste, causing severe pollution,” he says. The said area in Sumanahalli, near the Magadi Road and Outer Ring Road Junction, was established and barricaded by the solid waste management officials of Kottige Palya Ward.

He gives examples of how, sometimes, corporations’ pourakarmikas themselves set garbage and leaf litter on fire on Tigalarapalya Main Road, Outer Ring Road near Ambedkar College, Peenya Second Stage, Dasarahalli, Harohalli ward, Karihobanahalli ward, Byadarahalli Police Station area, and other places where garbage is regularly burnt. 

“Sundays are the days when waste is burnt in many areas as a routine, while the contractors try to clear the remaining waste,” he observes. He gives examples of burning garbage inside the Jnanabharathi campus, the police station and the horticulture department office in Rajarajeshwari Nagar. Complaints to KSPCB and BBMP yielded in notices, but have not helped in this case. Burning continues, he says.

“Government institutions themselves are burning leaf litter and garbage, who else can we account for?” he asks.

He says the city’s waste is taken to nearby villages outside the GBA limits, which are panchayat areas. Panchayats are anyway burning their waste; the city’s waste just adds to it, making life miserable for villagers as well.

“The system of waste management is not taken seriously by anyone. People are also not educated enough. They think burning is an accepted form of waste management; they have accepted it, so they don’t even question when they see it,” he adds.

‘No redressal’

What happens when the citizens complain about garbage burning?

Gowdaiah says the complaints are closed without any resolution. “No update on the action taken, and officials do not tell us what happened. After some time, the problem just repeats,” he sighs.

Anupama says the corporation officials have never been able to stop the burning of garbage in the land belonging to the local panchayat. People have tried to complain to officials of the erstwhile Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, but the problem remains.

Ravindra says his complaints have not helped us solve the issue. He is part of the local WhatsApp group, which also includes corporation officials. Despite repeated complaints and geotagged photographic evidence from him about the problem, no one from the corporation seems to have taken the issue seriously. 

“I have been complaining to the authorities for the last 2.5 years. Every time I post the photo, they come and clear it in a few hours. But the problem comes back. Even after so many years, there is no solution. I don’t know where else to complain; nobody helps us,” he says helplessly.

‘Garbage dumps keep coming back’

Bengaluru West City Corporation Commissioner Rajendra K V says that the corporation is trying to clear blackspots regularly so that there is no garbage available to burn. “The problem is, the dumps come back at the same speed they are cleared. We are trying to fix it through marshals and enforcement.”

When asked whether there are loopholes in the collection system, he said the current collection is only once per day. Still, the corporation is open to introducing an additional collection time if it helps control dumping,” he adds.

“We want to identify the spots where garbage is regularly burned and conduct surveys to identify the root cause. We also want to conduct IEC activities to educate people. People can complain through the existing mechanisms if they see violations,” he explains.

Garbage dumped near the Government High School Vajarahalli.

Will fixing blackspots help? Shobha Bhat, a civic volunteer from the erstwhile Rajarajeshwarinagar zone, says the corporations are already doing it, but it has not helped. “Garbage blackspots are cleared and the spots decorated with rangolis, but the blackspot just gets shifted to a place close by. The root cause of the blackspots should be fixed to have a permanent solution,” she adds.

With inadequate landfill capacity and limited door-to-door collection, informal dumping and open burning became common practices, especially in the city’s outskirts and the 100 villages newly absorbed by the BBMP when it transitioned from BMP to BBMP. 

There are instances of even the larger landfills catching fire, especially when they emit methane, a greenhouse gas that can ignite immediately. Villages near the Bellahalli landfill have frequently witnessed this, causing severe health issues for the villagers, before the BBMP finally capped the landfill with mud.

Garbage being burned near a government land in the Sumanahalli area.

Thus, Bengaluru’s garbage burning issue isn’t merely a civic nuisance—it’s a reflection of decades of urban neglect, policy gaps, and public apathy toward sustainable waste practices.

Now the city administration has undergone yet another transformation, with five corporations. This should make it easier to monitor and fix the garbage-burning issue. Will this happen? Only time will tell.