The Hindu   31.08.2012

Mayor’s U-turn on landfill closure

Staff Reporter

City Mayor D. Venkatesh Murthy backtracked on his
assurance to Mavallipura residents to cease dumping of garbage in the
landfill there.

While the resolution adopted by the
Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) council offers temporary
relief to the long-suffering community, there is no mention about the
closure of the landfill that is identified as the root cause of all
sorts of problems there.

After meeting the
Mavallipura residents on Wednesday, the Mayor had assured them of taking
action against Ramky Enviro Engineering Ltd., which had failed to
scientifically dispose of the garbage, and had promised to shut down the
landfill after passing a resolution in the council.

No closure

However,
on Thursday, the council only resolved to earmark Rs. 8 crore for the
development of the 15 villages affected by the landfill, conduct health
camps in the villages once a week, supply potable water through tankers
and sanction Rs. 2 lakh as compensation to the family of Srinivas who
collapsed and died during a recent protest.

The
council also resolved to process the accumulated garbage and shift it
elsewhere as specified by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board
(KSPCB), besides initiating action against the agency (Ramky) after a
thorough study on the various violations.

Ruling
Party Leader in the Council N. Nagaraju said after all these steps are
taken, the BBMP would once again get permission from the KSPCB to reopen
the landfill.

‘Revoke permission’

Unsatisfied
with this, Opposition Leader M.K. Gunashekar demanded the cancellation
of the permission to Ramky to set up a waste to energy plant at
Mavallipura. Earlier, he sought to know why the BBMP had failed to
submit the compliance report to the KSPCB. “Why didn’t the BBMP
officials issue a notice or levy penalty on Ramky when they knew that
the company was violating conditions prescribed under the Municipal
Solid Waste Management and Handling Rules 2000? What is the reason
behind the BBMP’s soft approach to dealing with Ramky?”

He
suggested that the BBMP pass a resolution to amend the Karnataka
Municipal Corporations Act 1976, making segregation of waste at source
mandatory and implement the ban on plastic less than 40 microns thick.
The BBMP could also resolve to urge the government to constitute the
District Planning Committee, required as per the KMC Act. “This
committee can look into identifying landfills and ensuring that the
nearby villages are not affected by it.”

Violations galore

Hanumanthnagar
councillor K. Chandrashekar pointed out that garbage contracts
(currently in force), mandated contractors to lift the segregated
garbage on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. “None of them is enforcing
this condition. Instead of penalising them, the BBMP has extended their
contracts five times. If a contractor is guilty of more than four
violations, he can be blacklisted. Even this has not been done and the
same contractors who have violated nearly 17 of the 26 tender conditions
have participated in the new garbage contracts.”

Buffer zone

Mr.
Chandrashekar said that as per Municipal Solid Waste Management and
Handling Rules 2000, a one-km radius around a landfill should be
declared as a buffer zone.

However, this has been
violated. The land mafia had joined hands with local communities and was
instigating them to revolt against dumping of garbage.

Yediyur
councillor N.R. Ramesh seconded him and said that when K.
Jyothiramalingam was the Commissioner, two developers allegedly
pressured him to reduce the buffer zone around Mandur landfill to just
200 metres.