Garbage logjam continues, villagers protest

“If a house has one leader, we can resolve a matter with him. If everybody in a house are leaders, then how do you convince everyone? In the last five days, there have been at least eight people who have come forward as ‘leaders’ seeking justice. If there’s a new face everyday, it’s impossible to convince them all. Hence, we are clueless about what to do,” he said.

The Mayor said that during a meeting with Bengaluru Minister K.J. George on Wednesday, a JD(S) leader came forward on the behalf of the people. “On Thursday a BJP ‘leader’ was protesting on the road. Now which party do we convince? They do not seem to be in tandem,” he added.

Since both Mr George and the Mayor have failed to convince the villagers to allow the BBMP trucks dump garbage at the processing plants, the BBMP is now counting that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will be successful in convincing the villagers during a meeting on Friday.

The protesters in Yelahanka have been demanding that the quantum of garbage sent for processing to the plants should be reduced immediately to 600 tonnes from 800 tonnes.

Meanwhile, for most of the residents in East and West Bengaluru it’s nothing less than living near a landfill. Even posh areas such as Indiranagar, Basveshwaranagar, Malleswaram, Rajajinagar, Mahadevapura and C.V Raman Nagar have turned into dumping yards with the villagers’ protest entering the fifth day.

Ramanath S., a resident of Ulsoor, said that the conditions have worsened in the last two days with heavy showers lashing the city. “Garbage floats on the road and there’s absolutely no space on any of the footpaths for pedestrians. Since the pourakarmikas have stopped collecting garbage, many residents dump it on the road. Rain and garbage has given us a double whammy,” he said.

With Diwali only a few days away, Mr Reddy said that the BBMP had sought permission from farmers in K.R. Puram, Bommanahalli and other peripheral areas to dump wet waste generated during festival. Everyday, the city generates around 4,000 tonnes of garbage, whereas during festivals it doubles.

Since there is already a backlog of uncleared garbage on the city streets, additional festival garbage could spell disaster. In a bid to avert this crisis, the BBMP has agreed to send only segregated wet and festival waste like flowers, banana plants and vegetable waste to the farmers.

“They have dug pits and are ready to receive wet waste generated during the festival,” Reddy said.