The Hindu       27.03.2017 

BBMP soon to be armed with data to clear illegal dump yards

Report on such spots to be submitted in a fortnight

How many illegal dump yards are there in the city? Which areas are
susceptible to the furtive dumping of garbage by trucks in the night?

While
the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) remains clueless
currently to the questions, in a fortnight or so, technology and
persistent research may provide them the answers.

Researchers from
Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) were roped in by the BBMP in 2010
after facing the heat in the High Court during the hearing of a public
interest litigation petition on illegal garbage dumping in the city.

Using
a combination of volunteers and satellite imagery, the team — H.N.
Chanakya and T.V. Ramachandra from Energy and Wetlands Research Group,
IISc. and researcher Shwetmala K. — had mapped illegal dump yards in the
city. A staggering 696 dump yards were found — 303 in core areas and
393 in outer areas.

“Using this modelling, we are able to find out
factors that make an area or site susceptible to illegal dumping. We
will submit this to the BBMP in 15 days or so,” said Dr. Shwetmala.
Earlier studies published by the group show that most of these dump
yards come within 1.5 km from national highways or major roads, and
particularly along the routes taken by garbage trucks towards the
processing site.

‘Inefficient system’

Mr.
Ramachandra said that with remote sensing satellite imagery being
available nearly once a month, a map of the city’s illegal dump yards
could be found through an accuracy of up to 2 m. “The civic body has not
shown interest because of the prevalent inefficiencies in the system
that allow for the garbage mafia to thrive,” he said.

Sarfaraz
Khan, Joint Commissioner (Solid Waste Management), BBMP, said that while
illegal dump yards were being cleared based on tip-offs by local
people, it was a continuous process as these yards continued to pop up.

“Remote
sensing data of dump yards in the city today can form the base and a
periodic monitoring of the area for new dump yards would be a shot in
the arm for enforcement to clear such spots. Satellite imagery can also
form acceptable evidence of the crime,” he said.

However, for the
civic body, it is the dumping of construction and demolition debris that
poses a greater challenge, particularly in areas such as Mahadevapura,
Bommanahalli and Kanakapura where a large plots are being rented out
only for dumping.