Garbage lorries stuck, tempers high: Bengaluru stares at citywide waste chaos

Bengaluru: Garbage collection in Bengaluru is likely to be disrupted on Thursday due to the ongoing blockade of waste-laden compactors at Bellahalli landfill even as the issue snowballed into a political slugfest. While Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Wednesday blamed BJP MLAs for the obstruction, Opposition leader R Ashoka charged that the government has become “garbage mafia”.

Villagers in Mahadevapura on Wednesday continued to block hundreds of vehicles from dumping the waste at Bellahalli, which takes nearly half of the city’s garbage.

The trigger for the blockade, which started on Tuesday, was the death of a two-year-old boy in a road accident on Sunday, with villagers — who obstructed traffic on roads including the stretch leading to the landfill – holding the state government responsible for the poor condition of roads in their area.

While none of the vehicles that went to the landfill could return after emptying their loads, the situation was no different at the seven other processing plants spread across the city.

However, officials of the Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Ltd (BSWML) claimed that these facilities were running smoothly.

It is learnt that a few MLAs such as Krishna Byre Gowda (Congress), Manjula Limbavali (BJP), S T Somashekar (expelled from BJP), Dheeraj Muniraju (BJP), M Krishnappa (Congress) have resisted dumping of garbage in their constituencies, especially after the state government did not approve a special grant of Rs 350 crore promised in the Bengaluru civic body’s annual budget.

Shivakumar warned that strict action would be initiated under the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) if the blockade continued and alleged that BJP MLAs were behind the obstructions. Stating that MLAs cannot blackmail the government for funds, he warned BJP legislators that the garbage would be dumped in front of their houses and BJP offices if they continued to obstruct the disposal of waste.

“If Arvind Limbavali and Dheeraj Muniraju keep objecting to the disposal of waste in their constituencies for want of funds, where do we dispose of the garbage? We will have to send it to the homes of R Ashoka, Vijayendra or the BJP party office,” he said and added that the processing plants and landfills had existed even before he took over as the Bengaluru development minister.

Reacting to the accident that killed a boy, he said the law will take its course in such cases but the garbage disposal can’t be stopped.

“The waste is being disposed of in the constituencies of S T Somashekar, B Shivanna and Krishna Byre Gowda also.”

Meanwhile, Ashoka warned that within the next two days, Bengaluru would turn “stenchy” as garbage was not being cleared, and garbage lorries and auto rickshaws were stranded on the outskirts.

Cautioning that public anger would mount, Ashoka demanded the immediate release of funds.

“Earlier, there was a garbage contractor mafia from Andhra in Bengaluru. Today, the state government is the mafia. There is a 7% commission to award a tender, another 7% each for settling the bill and issuing a special NOC. The government takes 21%, and the engineers swallow 71%. There is nothing left for picking up the garbage,” alleged the BJP leader.

MLA Muniraju denied the allegation that he blackmailed the government for funds.

“I have not sought a single penny under the solid waste management. I neither want any funds nor the waste from Bengaluru. The government is free to impose ESMA and send me to jail. I will not fear threat,” he said, adding that Doddaballapur gets about 72 compactors of Bengaluru’s waste daily.