Bengaluru is staring at a fresh garbage crisis as residents living near key processing plants and dumping sites intensify their protests. By blocking truck routes and disrupting disposal operations, local communities have brought the city's waste management system to a near-standstill.
Residents, backed by local politicians, have stopped trucks from entering waste processing facilities, claiming that the centers are being overloaded with more garbage than they can manage. This has raised fears that trash may soon pile up on Bengaluru's streets if the standoff continues.
Resistance was initially reported from Mittaganahalli and Bellahalli, where hundreds of garbage trucks have been stranded since yesterday. This led to trucks being diverted to a processing unit in Doddaballapur, where they met further opposition.
BJP MLA Joins Protest; Trucks Sent Back
The protest near Doddamankala in Doddaballapur gained political momentum when BJP MLA Dheeraj Muniraju joined local residents. The MLA accused the government of attempting to divert hundreds of additional garbage trucks to the MSGP waste-processing unit, which he claimed is already under immense pressure.
Muniraju, along with locals, stopped and sent back several trucks and called in RTO officials to penalise vehicles allegedly operating without valid fitness certificates.
"The MSGP unit already receives garbage from the East and West corporations and a limited quantity from Mahadevpura," Muniraju said. "Due to a strike at another waste collection unit in Mahadevpura, trucks are now being diverted here. As soon as I learned about this, I came and stopped the vehicles. We are struggling to manage the existing load, and we will not allow any extra trucks beyond what was originally allotted to the MSGP plant."
DK Shivakumar's Sharp Warning
Reacting strongly to the protests, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar issued a stern warning to protesting legislators.
"All MLAs are blackmailing us. They say work should not be done unless funds are released. They must behave with dignity; otherwise, I will act in my own style," Shivakumar said. "Whether it is an MLA or anyone else, we will dump the garbage in front of their house or the BJP office. Yesterday it was Arvind Limbavali, today it is the Doddaballapur MLA. Where else should the garbage go?"
Shivakumar further alleged that the protests were being used as pressure tactics to demand development funds, asserting that waste disposal was being carried out as per existing arrangements.
Activists Flag Structural Problems
Civic activist Vinay Sreenivasa noted that the crisis was inevitable unless the root cause-waste generation-is addressed.
"This garbage problem has been waiting to happen. It will not end until we reduce consumption at the ward level," he said. "Enormous quantities of waste are dumped every day, especially due to [the rise in] online food orders."
City on Edge
With protests continuing and no immediate resolution in sight, Bengaluru stands on the brink of a full-blown sanitation crisis.
