I
graduated from a premier institute located in one of the loveliest
cities of India; Bengaluru; way back in Nineteen Sixties. I can
still remember the city of those days with its wide and specious
roads, gardens and salubrious weather and the coffee houses. People
used to say jokingly that Bengaluru has a natural air conditioning,
it never gets hot here. With the passage of time, first came the
industrialization and then the Information technology revolution
starting with Y2K. Bengaluru remained on the forefront and grabbed a
major share of this sunrise industry. With the industry booming to
unprecedented levels, came the riches and the affluence. The city
started getting overcrowded. New high rise apartments came in to
cater to the new rich. Unfortunately, all this was at a cost. The
beautiful salubrious weather of Bengaluru was the first victim. Gone
were the days of natural air conditioning. As the city grew, weather
changed for the worst.
With
the overcrowding, another menace raised its head for the first time
around month of August in this year (2012). Traditionally, Bengaluru
municipal corporation, used to collect the garbage generated in the
city and then use landfills in nearby places like Mavllipura,
Cheemasandra, Anjanapura, Mandur and Terra Firma in Gundalahalli,
(Doddaballapur Taluk.) to dump it. With a quantum of about 5000 tons
of garbage pouring in every day from Bengaluru to outskirt villages,
the villagers from the 15 affected villages near Mavavllipura raised
an alarm and submitted a memorandum with 11 demands to the Mayor of
Bengaluru. The demands included revoking permission granted to Ramky
to establish a waste to energy plant at Mavallipura, shift the 4.0
Million tonnes dumped in Mavallipura, 1.6 Million tonnes on land
belonging to the Forest Department and 2.0 Million tonnes dumped on
Gomala land there.
Responding
to this petition, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB)
ordered the closure of the Mavallipura landfill. Incidentally, at
that time, Cheemasandra and Anjanapura landfills were already full.
This naturally created tremendous pressure on other two landfills.
After 27 August 2012, residents near the Mandur landfill, commenced
a blockade of all garbage trucks coming to the dump. In a chain
reaction, communities near the Terra Firma landfill threatened to
stop trucks from dumping waste after August 30. The garbage problem
for Begaluru city had just began.
On
August 30th,
Mayor of Bengaluru municipal corporation, confirmed that Mavallipura
dumping has been stopped and attributed Bengaluru's garbage problem
to the plastic waste, which according to him was not segregated. To
find a solution to the garbage problem, Bengaluru municipal
corporation came out with a scheme, where residents were asked to
segregate the garbage. Then scheme was launched on 2nd
October. It is a sad observation that most of the Bangaloreans failed
to rise to the occasion and only 15 per cent of the citizens
segregated waste and gave away only wet waste. On day one of the new
scheme, 2,766.8 tonnes of plastic mixed waste and only 514.69 tonnes
of segregated waste were collected in the eight zones of the city.
On
October 13, Government decided to use three unused stone quarries to
dump the waste as a temporary measure. By October 19, Municipal
corporation reported that 6000 tons of garbage was rotting on city
streets. On 20th October, Municipal commissioner admitted that the
garbage on city streets is not moving at all as there is no place to
take it. As a result, garbage started to be dumped on outskirts of
the city itself.
Finally,
on October 23rd,
Mandur villagers agreed to accept the garbage for 3 months only and
Bangoloreans won a very temporary respite. The municipal corporation
started moving about 3000 tons of garbage every day and the city
heaved a sigh of relief. With the accumulation of garbage, mosquito
bred disease are on the rise. In Bangalore city limits alone, 868
dengue cases have been reported in this year.
What a
pathetic story this one is? What is the use of Bengaluru's rise and
shine, if the city is unable to provide basic amenities to the
citizens? Perhaps what happened in Bengaluru, could happen any where
else, including my city. I do not know what future holds, but one
thing is for sure. The garden city that I love, is long gone,
submerged in heaps of garbage. There is garbage now in my garden,
which I just can not get rid off.
3rd
November 2012
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