Bangalore:
The Karnataka government has promised that the garbage strewn over the streets of Bangalore would be collected in the next three days. A new landfill near Dodballapur, which falls under the Chintamani taluk on the outskirts of Bangalore, spread over 400 acres of farm land, has been zeroed in on for garbage dumping.
The issue An estimated 5000 tonnes of garbage is produced by Bangalore city every single day. In the last few days, garbage was not being transported to the land fill even though it was picked up from most sites in trucks. After villagers around the Mavellipura dump yard on the outskirts of Bangalore protested against dumping of trash for the last 10 years, that too in an unscientific manner, dumping had come to a halt.
The temperature in Bangalore dipped to 18 degree Celsius in the last two days, an effect of cyclone Nilam in the Bay of Bengal. Rainfall over the last two days made matters worse, with garbage spilling over streets. With half-filled pet bottles and tender coconuts filled with stagnated rains water, the fear of dengue looms large over the city. Due to a recent outbreak of the water borne disease, more than 500 cases of dengue were reported in Bangalore in the last one month.
What's the solution? Experts say, finding a new land fill site is not the permanent solution. Segregation of waste at source is the way forward. Once each home segregates waste, the municipal authority or the BBMP would have to treat waste. As of now, Bangalore does not have a fully operational waste treatment plant which can process garbage to the magnitude of 5000 tonnes.