Civic body identifies four new quarries in north, east Bengaluru to dump waste

Bengaluru: All the garbage-laden trucks will soon start moving towards the north and eastern parts of Bengaluru as the civic body has identified four new quarries, two in Byatarayanapura and the other in Mahadevapura assembly constituency, to dump the city’s garbage.

The move that goes against several court orders has been seen as temporary until the government identifies 400 acres of land to set up a waste tech park that could process the waste instead of being a mere dumping ground.

In all, the civic body is planning to create four quarries — Baiyappanahalli and Bagalur (Byatarayanapura) and Mitaganahalli and Kannur (Mahadevapura) — three of which are closer to places where garbage is already being dumped daily.

The Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML) will spend close to Rs 120 crore to set up the four landfills.

Several courts, including the National Green Tribunal (NGT), have opposed creating landfills to dump garbage since it is unscientific and has huge environmental costs. They put the health of villagers at risk for the problems the city creates.

Out of the 4,500-tonne waste generated by the city daily, 3,000 tonne goes to the landfill, while 1,500 tonne is sent for waste processing.

The BSWML is also not focusing on running the seven waste processing plants to their full capacity due to opposition from local residents.

But a senior official maintained that landfills are only stopgap arrangements until the new facility becomes functional to process and incinerate waste scientifically. He cited the recent government order to the revenue department to identify 100 acres of land in four directions to create tech parks for waste management.

Rs 24 crore for biomining legacy waste at Mavallipura

The Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML) has set aside Rs 23.90 crore for biomining legacy waste at Mavallipura, where waste was dumped for several years until the villagers started protesting in a big way.

Interestingly, the civic body had invested Rs 12 crore just last year to shift 1.13 lakh tonne of waste from Mavallipura to Mitaganahalli.

In 2019, the BBMP had roped in government-owned Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Enterprise (KRIDL) to shift around 60,000 tonne of waste.

There is, however, no clarity about the exact volume of waste available at the Mavallipura dumpyard, which is about 20 km from Bengaluru.