BBMP passes buck, stench from muck fills air

Residents of various parts of the city were forced to bear the stink emanating from uncleared garbage on Wednesday. The BBMP had promised to clear the garbage before Monday. However, it failed to meet its own deadline and garbage continued to pile up across the city.

Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy had set a 72 hour deadline to clear nearly 7,500 tonnes of garbage last week.The garbage had accumulated all over the city after locals near Mandur and Terra Firma landfill sites refused to allow dumping of garbage there.

On Wednesday, uncleared garbage was seen near Dharmarayaswamy Temple in Gandhinagar, J P Nagar, Frazer Town, Padmanabhanagar, R T Nagar, K R Market, Chamarajpet and Banashankari II Stage.

When contacted, the Mayor claimed ‘there is no problem now’. “People throw garbage at transit points after the garbage collection trucks leave those points,” he alleged.

Meanwhile, Chairman of BBMP’s Standing Committee (Health) Venkatesh Babu said unlike earlier, the municipal waste is unloaded and transported during night. “Villagers at Mandur have told us not to send garbage loaded trucks to their village during the daytime. So, we are sending trucks between 10 pm and 6 am. As the garbage is cleared in the night, it is now seen in the day,” he opined.

The garbage is now being sent to Terra Firma and Mandur landfill sites. Some quantity of organic waste is being taken by the farmers and the Karnataka State Industrial Investment and Development Corporation is converting some quantity of waste into electricity. “More than 90 per cent of the garbage has been cleared in the city,” he claimed.