Bengaluru: Rs 999 crore garbage plan violates NGT order?

BENGALURU: A three-year initiative to rid Bengaluru of garbage is on the cards.


The Rs 999-crore Shubra Bengaluru (Clean Bengaluru), cleared by the BS Yediyurappa government and to be implemented by the BBMP, will seek to make the state capital garbage free.

Of the allocation, Rs 90 crore would be spent on the establishment of a scientific landfill at Mitiganahalli and its one-time development, including operations and maintenance. The landfill is in Mahadevapura assembly constituency and adjacent to Bellahalli quarry, which is brimming over with the city's waste.

The initiative seems to violate the National Green Tribunal's recent directive to BBMP to not consider landfills and quarry pits to dispose of waste.

Bio-mining plan at Mandur landfill back on government table

The Karnataka government’s Rs 999-crore project to rid Bengaluru of garbage mounds includes reviving a six-year-old plan of setting up bio-mining Mandur landfill at a cost of Rs 80 crore.

Another Rs 60 crore would be spent on the establishment of a scientific landfill at land bearing survey No. 276 in Bagalur and any other landfill site made available would be used to manage and dispose of mixed waste received after the establishment of a presorting facility.

Opening pre-processing plants near the landfills at a cost of Rs 30 crore, setting up of another scientific landfill at Hullalli at a cost of Rs 45 crore and establishing three other landfills at Bagalur, Mitiganahalli and Bellahalli at a cost of Rs 65 crore are among the other Shubra Bengaluru projects.

The BBMP has revived its six-year-old plan for biomining Mandur landfill at a cost of Rs 80 crore. The SWM rules 2016 mandate biomining of old dumps and reclaiming of land. With the NGT orders clear that legacy waste has to be cleared in one year, the BBMP said the allocation has been enhanced.

The BBMP has reserved Rs 50 crore to purchasing land for buffer zones of SWM processing plants and Rs 9 crore to engage marshals at processing plants, landfill sites and wards to check illegal dumping of garbage.

Soon after assuming office four months ago, chief minister BS Yediyurappa had reviewed the Kumaraswamy government’s contributions to Bengaluru’s development and had allocated Rs 8,015 crore for development works in the city over the next three years. None of these projects pertained to solid waste management.

The BJP government had, in a September 20 order, earmarked Rs 584 crore to solid waste management. Of that, Rs 528 crore was reserved for the development of villages around the landfill, leaving only a little over Rs 55 crore for disposing of waste. BBMP’s SWM officials had raised the issue during several meetings chaired by Yediyurappa. The SWM officials were directed to prepare an action plan and submit it to the chief minister. In a memorandum submitted on October 21, the BBMP had asked for special grants for disposing of the city’s waste in a scientific manner.

“The BBMP has filed an affidavit in the Karnataka high court that it is following SWM Rules 2016 to dispose of the city’s waste in a scientific manner and an action plan for the next three years was placed before the chief minister,” said a SWM officer. While Yediyurappa cleared all the proposals placed before him the same day, a government order announcing the Shubra Bengaluru allocation was issued a fortnight later.