The Times Of India, Bangalore TNN | Jan 2, 2016, 10.24 AM IST
BENGALURU: The garbage scene in Bengaluru seems to be getting murkier, with the city’s waste finding its way to vacant lands and forest reserves of neighbouring districts.
With villagers near all existing and proposed yards vehemently protesting against trash being dumped in their midst, the garbage mafia appears to be in search of sites where they can offload on the sly and vanish. A week ago, the reserve forest area near Jak kalamadagu, Chikkaballapur district, turned out to be another such illegal dumpyard with over five tonnes of garbage parked there.
On December 24, Ram Kumar, a businessman from Chikkaballapur was in for a shock when he saw his vacant farmland filled with garbage. Kumar, who owns six acres of land next to the forest reserve, complained to the local municipality at Chikkaballapur thinking the trash came from the town.
“Villagers alerted me about a fire on my land. Officials later told me all the trash was being ferried in trucks from Bengaluru. Miscreants dumped the waste at night and set it afire before,” Kumar told TOI.
One reason for them to believe the muck landed from Bengaluru was that the heaps contained prescriptions and attendance slips of Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology . Also, found were gloves, syringes and masks, hinting the waste was sourced from a hospital.
Speaking to TOI, C R Manjunath, district environmental officer, Chikkaballapur, confirmed that garbage was being illegally dumped in the reserve forest area.”When we visited the spot on December 31, over 15 truckloads of garbage had been dumped in the forest reserve area and also on a private land next to it. Prima facie it appears solid waste from Bengaluru was dumped here. In fact, many heaps had mixed waste. We are trying to find out how the trash reached here,” he said.Not Chikkaballapur’s waste: According to officers, it takes over two months for Chikkaballapur town to produce the amount of trash that was found dumped at this location.
Kumar, however, is yet to file a police complaint. “This is trespassing. The city’s waste can’t be dumped on a farmer’s land. It’s not just about my land, it can happen to anyone. Proper vigilance and tracking each garbage-loaded truck must become the norm,” he said.
For now, the district administration has incinerated the dump scientifically and officers are mulling issuing notices to Kidwai.
