Some contractors cry about getting too much garbage, and some too less! MSW processing unit in Doddaballapur turns nearly defunct, thanks to BBMP.
Strange are the ways that BBMP works in, if the manner in which it has dealt with contractors who are tasked with processing the city garbage.
At Mandur, its lax attitude allowed a contractor, who was required to set up a waste-to-energy project, to turn a village into a garbage dumping ground. At Mavallipura, it failed in giving the concessionaire, who was to process the garbage into compost, enough land, and on the other hand, dumped garbage in excess of what the carrying capacity of the land, ensuring that the contractor failing in the given task.
At Gundhalli, the third of the processing yards for city’s garbage, it is a different story altogether. Here, the BBMP has not transported enough garbage for the contractor to process it into various products, such as compost, energy, plastic pellets and bricks.
The joint commissioner (Health), BBMP, signed an agreement with Terra Firma Biotechnologies Ltd (TFBL) to transport 1,000 metric tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) per day for processing. However, it has transported only 300-350 metric tonnes a day, making the unit nearly defunct.
KG Narayanappa, general manager, TFBL, said the BBMP had not delivered on its promise to supply MSW to the unit as per the 2008 agreement. “Recently, they promised to send 47 truck loads of garbage a day, but we receive only around 30 trucks. There are occasions where we received only four trucks a day,’’ he said. The management of Terra Firma claimed that it has produced 45,000 tonnes of compost since 2008. It also claimed that it had generated power from its captive unit.
“We have supplied compost to farmers of surrounding villages and also to Karnataka Compost Development Corporation (KCDC). We are generating biogas by using wet waste from Kempe Gowda International Airport and Biocon and use the gas to generate power, which can run our plant for 3-4 hours during unscheduled load-shedding,’’ Narayanappa said.
The management says it has invested Rs 32.50 crore to set up the units for making compost, vermi compost, waste to energy, plastic-to-pellet and brick making in 2008. It claims of having spent around Rs 60 crore on the unit till now.
“More than 100 people depend on this unit for livelihood. Some are from neighbouring villages. We are spending Rs 4.50 lakh a months on wages,’’ Narayanappa claimed.
MR Venkatesh, chief engineer, solid waste management, BBMP, said all garbage trucks owned by the BBMP have been assigned to transport garbage to the TFBL unit.
Recently, Justice N Kumar of High Court, accompanied by BBMP officials visited the facility at Gundhalli in Doddaballapur taluk, and was impressed by the recycling facilities set up.
“Apart the fact that the recycling facilities are good here, there are no villages around this area, unlike at other landfills. Local employment is also generated as many have found employment here,” Justice Kumar observed.
However, in October 2012, Gundhalli residents staged a protest demanding that the BBMP stop dumping garbage at the landfill since it affected agriculture and ground water table in the vicinity. They demanded that the BBMP to asphalt the roads damaged by garbage trucks. Police and BBMP authorities had to rush to the spot and assure to take all measures to meet the villagers’ demands but the condition of the approach road remained same even after 14 months.
Recently, the BBMP has floated tender for asphalting 3.5 km road with an estimated cost of Rs 7 crore.
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