Roiled by garbage trucks being allowed inside the Mandur landfill site despite protests, members of the Mandur grama panchayat on Tuesday said they would meet Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar shortly to discuss the matter.
Lamenting the pathetic state of their village, the local residents vented their ire on the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike and the State government for their apathy.
Grama panchayat member Rakesh Gowda rued, “We were promised by Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy and the then BBMP Commissioner Rajaneesh Goel that the number of garbage trucks reaching the landfill would be reduced to 150 in December.
However, we see around 450-500 lorries unloading tonnes of garbage. A written agreement copy regarding complete garbage clearance from February 1 is pending.”
“The chief minister had assured us that a park would be developed at the site within a year, soon after the landfill is cleared. However, no initiative has taken off the ground,” he said. The villagers and panchayat members also pointed to the defunct waste-to-energy plant started six years ago by Srinivas Gayathri Resource Recovery Ltd.
Gram panchayat president Amrutha Manjunath complained: “A conveyor belt with trolleys is also lying in a dilapidated state. If the power plant was functioning, power generated from burnt garbage would have lit many homes.”
Unfit for consumption
Narendra Babu, a resident, said: “The open pit is where all the garbage is pushed in and covered with mud. This has resulted in the contamination of groundwater source, rendering it unfit for consumption. The areas mainly affected due to stench and water depletion are Mandur panchayat, Gundur, Byappanahalli, Kammasandra, Marasandra, Kattagollahalli, Bommanahalli, Bidarahalli and Hancharahalli.”
The residents claimed that a few truck drivers had been dumping garbage at Mandur North, Survey No 155, without the government’s permission. Accusing Deputy Chief Minister R Ashoka of pressuring the police to allow trucks into Mandur, Narendra said: “If we stage protests, the Avalahalli police threaten us. However, we will continue our agitation till a permanent solution is found to our problems.”