Bengaluru: After investing over Rs 500 crore on garbage processing plants and continuously fighting against ‘garbage mafia’, it seems the state government has its eureka moment to end the garbage menace in the city. It wants to develop a “Garbage Park” to find a permanent and futuristic solution to the garbage menace. After a surprise inspection on Friday, Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George said that like in South Korea, the garbage park would be set up on the city outskirts.
“We need to find permanent solutions, which are to build more waste-to-energy units and to develop a garbage park to compost the city’s 4,000 tonnes of garbage. We are trying to identify 500-1,000 acres of land for the garbage park, while in South Korea, a garbage park is spread over 2,000 acres. The park will have 15-foot-high compound so that the residents nearby are not affected,” he said. On the ongoing garbage crisis, he said that though the BBMP had an action plan to treat festival garbage, the closure of Terra Firma temporarily affected garbage disposal. “There are protests near Kannahalli and Seegehalli plants because citizens fear their locality too will become like Mandur or Mavallipura. Though we have achieved 45% garbage segregation at source, there is lack of confidence about garbage processing plants. Even the real estate mafia is exaggerating these fears,” he said.
Monsoon ready:
Mr George said that the BBMP will float tenders for works worth '792 crore, while various civil works costing '412 crore have been taken up under Nagarottana funds. He said that road repair works were continuous and most of the potholes will be filled before the monsoon. “We will de-silt the drains shortly and remove encroachments on storm water drains. We will be ready before the monsoon arrives,” he said. Multiple agencies under one umbrella: Mr George said that to create smooth communication between various government agencies, an online platform will be created for all the departments under his ministry. “The BDA, BBMP, BWSSB and BMRDA will be brought under this single platform. There will be better communication among officials. Citizens can post their complaints online. Officials will work in tandem to solve problems,” he said.
TenderSURE roads inspected:
Mr George also visited ongoing works on TenderSURE roads, like KG Road, Richmond Road and Museum Road. He told the engineers to complete the works on time and ensure that there is no digging of footpaths after the works were completed.
