Pollution board permits Palike to dump waste in Mittaganahalli quarry

The KSPCB has permitted the BBMP to dispose of garbage at the Mittaganahalli quarry pit after sitting on the request for two years.

The permission has come at a time when the High Court of Karnataka rapped the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for flouting processes in dumping waste.

“The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) after examining the proposal hereby authorises the BBMP to set up and operate a waste processing, recycling, treatment, and disposal facility at survey no 2 of the Mittaganahalli quarry pit,” stated the letter issued by Srinivasulu, member secretary at KSPCB, dated March 4.

The authorisation, valid up to June 2023, refers to the BBMP’s application in March 2020 seeking the board’s approval to use the quarry pit. The authorisation has been issued for the capacity of 18,000 metric tonnes per month.

“Any violation of the provision of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 will attract the penal provision of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986,” the letter stated.

Sources said the subject of the Mittaganahalli quarry was not listed in the agenda of the recent authorisation committee meeting.

Defending the delay, the KSPCB cited lengthy processes to clear statutory approvals for environmental clearance, board approval, and site inspection. “We were not under any pressure,” a senior KSPCB official said.

Last Saturday, the high court took the BBMP Chief Commissioner to task for the 2020 order and for sending waste to the Mittaganahalli quarry pit without KSPCB's approval. “The officers feel they are above the law. It is our duty to make them realise what the law is,” the bench said orally.

The BBMP has been dispatching garbage to the Mittaganahalli quarry for more than two years. The quarry is the biggest landfill where the civic body is sending 2,700 metric tonnes of waste daily. This is mainly since four out of the six waste-processing plants have become non-operational.

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