Localised garbage plan is on hold

Localised garbage plan is on hold

BBMP fears backlash against 60-transit point plan

It may be unwise to have waste segregation units in neighbourhoods

Rohit BR. Bangalore

A long-pending cry of the Bangaloreans to have a proper garbage disposal system for their city will have to wait a little longer.
Even as the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is engaged in a legal battle with garbage contractors, its master plan to have 60 transit points to manage household waste may not take off. For, Palike commissioner Bharat Lal Meena feels that the transit points may become new points of dispute and people may resent stinking garbage facilities at their backyard.
In August this year, Palike had made a proposal to the government apparently to save on transport bills. Transit points were expected to work as segregation and composting points so that only inert effluent is transported to disposal sites located away from the city. This was meant to reduce the number of trips and hence cut the bills to contractors.
With the city generating over 3,500 tonnes of solid waste per day, its disposal has become a stupendous task as the existing capacity of land fills is insufficient to meet the requirement. Under the master plan prepared by the Infrastructure Development Corporation (Karnataka) (iDeCK), 60 transit points were identified for garbage segregation."Each point has the capacity of processing about 20 tonnes of solid waste accumulated by door-to-door collection from the surrounding areas," said an official from the BBMP, on condition of anonymity. But even the scientific land fills in Mavallipura and Mandur had to face environmental objection though they are 25-30 km away from city. "Within city limits, this can only lead to stronger protests," said Meena. Civic consultant town planning consultant and former urban planner with BBMP and BDA, AS Kodandapani said decentralised garbage processing units would go a long way in saving the money and time in the disposal mechanism.
"Right now, each truck carrying garbage to the city's outskirts covers up to 60 km making Palike to spend much on fuel and manpower" he said.
However, the garbage contractors disagree. One of the contractors, Gopinath Reddy said: "Scientific garbage management demands that the city has three transfer stations where smaller garbage trucks can be unloaded, segregated and loaded into compressors. Palike had identified three such locations but could not execute as the neighbourhoods protested. Now they want to try 60 locations."
Ganesh, another contractor, has filed a writ petition before the high court questioning BBMP's decision to float tenders for transport of garbage to these transit points. As per the existing contracts, no one else can operate in most of city areas.
WITH INPUTS FROM BASAVARAJ ITNAALmounting problem: Existing capacity of landfills is insufficient to take 3,500 tonnes of solid waste generated every day in the city