Bengaluru: Three years earlier, BBMP under Commissioner Rajneesh Goel, after severe prodding from the High Court framed rules for segregation of garbage. The rules were pretty simple under the Municipal Solid Waste (Management &Handling) Rules, 2000. Segregate your garbage into wet and dry waste. Some local corporators even went ahead and distributed bins to the citizens to be used for this. Three years later, the spectacular failure of BBMP to educate and strictly enforce this simple rule has them sitting on 4,000 tonnes of garbage that is being generated every day.
And that is only because of Mandur, Mavallipura and Bingipura slamming the doors to their villages and refusing to dump garbage in their landfills.
“As long as citizens don't segregate garbage, there will be no end to the sight of garbage rotting on our streets,” warns BBMP Commissioner G. Kumar Naik. “The garbage processing plants have a total capacity to treat 1,800 tonnes of wet waste but, only 500 tonnes of wet waste is being transported to the plants. Though there has been an increase in the segregated quantum of garbage, we need to ramp up the quantity," he says.
While the BBMP is trying hard to ensure garbage segregation, residents in some of the areas in South Bengaluru are living with the stench, with mixed waste and segregated plastic waste left on the road. "We do not have problem in picking up the garbage but where do we throw it?" asks Mr Naik. With the BBMP prepared to handle only wet waste at its plants, it seems like it's time for the city to have two bins at home to dispose garbage!
Trash, potholes: By George, do something!
The potholes which are growing bigger every day and the garbage piles dotting the city, ensured a sound ‘trashing’ for Bengaluru development minister K.J. George at the hands of city legislators on Thursday.
The minister could only regurgitate what he had said in the legislature a few days ago-that waste conversion plants were being set up and abandoned quarries being identified for dumping trash. None of these could convince the legislators who are finding it difficult to endure the stink on the roadside. Food and civil supplies Dinesh Gundurao reassured the MLAs that they would do their best to provide motorable roads while Mr George promised more meetings!
Download the all new Deccan Chronicle app for Android and iOS to stay up-to-date with latest headlines and news stories in politics, entertainment, sports, technology, business and much more from India and around the world.
