This Article is From Jun 02, 2014

Is Bangalore on the Verge of Another Garbage Crisis?

Is Bangalore on the Verge of Another Garbage Crisis?

The villagers of Mandur, where the city dumps its waste - have been protesting against it, saying it affects their health.

Bangalore: Back in 2012, Bangalore faced a garbage crisis that made the life of its residents difficult - and also made international headlines. The villagers of Mandur, where the city dumps its waste - started protesting against this dumping, saying it affected their health. But waste was not cleared, and the piles of garbage grew.

After promises were made by authorities, Mandur allowed dumping to continue, on the understanding that another solution would be found soon. But the response of authorities has been too slow.

One and a half years on - the villagers of Mandur, are once again saying, enough is enough.

This time, the government and city corporation are asking for eight months, promising that there will be no more dumping afterwards. They claim four sanctioned projects will take care of the problem permanently.

The minister in charge for Bangalore, Ramalinga Reddy, promises there will be no repeat of the build-up of garbage. He had visited Mandur over the weekend, to try and speak to the villagers, but was met with a hostile reception. He agrees that the situation there is bad.

"No definitely, they are in worst condition case. Our corporation officers, they are not spraying...they have not kept the premises in the proper condition. Our officials, fault is there," he said.

Mr Reddy also told NDTV, "Last year, our commissioner and our elected body promised that from June 2014, we won't dump garbage there...Now we have four sanctioned projects...with which we can segregate more than 2000 metric tons of garbage. We need at least 7 to 8 months for these projects..."

However, the city too needs to take some of the responsibility. Attempts at getting people to segregate at source and hence reduce the amount of garbage going to dumpsites has met with little success.


 
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