Bengaluru may get a new board to tackle its garbage mess

Bengaluru: The city may soon get a Waste Management Board exclusively to handle the garbage it generates. The government  plans to hold a meeting on Monday to discuss the idea which has been suggested by Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, according to sources.

“The board will be tech -driven and monitor what happens to the garbage generated in a house till it reaches its destination. A software will be developed to make this possible,” explained a BJP leader, adding that the Chief Minister was keen on finding a solution to the city's seemingly unending garbage troubles and was fed up with the garbage mafia holding it to ransom.

Reflecting on how initiatives taken to solve Bengaluru’s garbage troubles  have amounted to little, the BJP leader pointed out that while some wards are showing the way, others are doing nothing simply because the garbage does not allow them to.   

“Yediyur ward  generates 250 kilowatts of power from the garbage it generates. After using the power it needs, it sells the excess units to BESCOM and earns over `30 lakh a month this way.  If one ward can do this, think how much power can be generated from  Bengaluru’s 5,000 metric tonnes of garbage. But the garbage mafia does not allow it,” he deplored, claiming that the waste-to-energy plants had become redundant as the officials, elected representatives and the garbage mafia were hand-in- glove.

“Even if a solid waste management bill has to be cleared it requires the greasing of many hands. The only solution is setting up of a Waste Management Board comprising  honest officials to deal with the city’s garbage,” he said.

Citizens: BBMP not keeping promise of buying compost from houses

Meanwhile, Bengalureans continue to grumble that the BBMP, which has made segregation of garbage at source and composting of wet waste mandatory, has not bothered to keep its promise of buying the compost from individual houses, leaving many, who have invested in household  composters with no avenue to dispose of it.

“Many residents in our area took part in the ‘composting santhe’ (composting fair) organised by BBMP in 2016. Although we don’t have enough space for pots or rooftop gardening,  we bought a composter for nearly `2,000 on its insistence, but it began to pile up as we had no buyers for it,”  said Ms Hema, a resident of New BEL Road.

Having no alternative, she stopped composting the wet waste, just like many other Bengalureans , who have been left disappointed by the BBMP’s lack of interest in buying the compost.  

They wonder why the BBMP cannot buy the compost from them and sell it to farmers at a nominal rate to make a success of the scheme.

“For anything to be successful, the BBMP needs the support of the people. Just asking them to segregate the wet and dry garbage and convert the wet into compost will not help. It needs to create an avenue for them to dispose of the compost, If it buys it and sells it to farmers, it will be a win-win situation all around as the total garbage   to be collected will fall and cut down the cost of transporting it,” said one city resident.  Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun was not available for comment.