Protesting village residents relent, garbage dumping to resume

There is relief in sight for the city as the residents of villages around the S. Bingipura landfill have agreed to allow the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to dump waste there for the next fortnight at least. With this, clearing of nearly 4,000 tonnes of garbage piled up across parts of south, south-east and east Bengaluru is expected to resume from Monday, putting an end to fears of a larger garbage crisis ahead of the festivals this week, which have traditionally added another 300 tonnes to the city’s load. Newly-elected Mayor B.N. Manjunath Reddy who, along with a battery of BBMP officials, faced his first big challenge at the helm of the civic body during the visit to the village on Sunday. Angry residents confronted them, complained about health issues and poor living conditions due to the unscientific dumping of garbage. The village – spread over two gram panchayats – differed on their next step: whether to relent or continue their stance of blocking the trucks. However, village leaders confirmed to The Hindu late on Sunday evening that they would allow dumping for a fortnight. Earlier in the day, the Mayor had appealed to the residents to allow the civic body to dump waste for a month until the waste-processing unit at Chikka Nagamangala starts functioning. Admitting that BBMP had erred, Mr. Reddy said: “Soil-capping of garbage did not take place resulting in frequent fires. For a month, officials were busy with election work and treatment of waste was affected.” As negotiations were on between the BBMP and the locals, as many as 140 trucks containing 1,000 tonnes of garbage generated each day were lined up in areas like K.R. Road. BBMP was also forced to divert some of them to other plants at Kannahalli, Sigehalli and Subbarayanapalya as well as three biomethanisation plants in the south zone. With the garbage dumping set to resume on Monday, BBMP is expected to take at least two days to clear the accumulated garbage before the festivities begin on Wednesday. Another round of talks are scheduled to be held between the residents of the villages adjoining Bingipura and City in-charge Minister Ramalinga Reddy on Tuesday, where a permanent solution to the impasse is being hoped for. -The Hindu