Even as the city has been battling with the garbage pile-up for the past two months due to the lack of adequate landfills, the forthcoming Ayudha Puja, Vijayadashami and Bakri festivals are expected to deepen the crisis.
Even as the city has been battling with the garbage pile-up for the past two months due to the lack of adequate landfills, the forthcoming Ayudha Puja, Vijayadashami and Bakri festivals are expected to deepen the crisis.
With villagers in and around Mandur landfill protesting against disposal of waste at the nearby landfill, over 10,000 tonnes of garbage have already piled up on the city roads, emanating foul smell, making life miserable for nearby residents.
But with Ayudha Puja being celebrated on Tuesday, Vijayadhashami on Wednesday and Bakrid on Saturday, the city is already inundated with banana stems, flowers, garlands, palm leaves and other wastes. During this particular week, the city is expected to generate around 4,500 tonnes of garbage everyday.
Chamarajpet ward corporator BV Ganesh said the markets will be flooded with banana stalks, flowers and other pooja materials. “With a series of festivals, there will be huge garbage crisis in the city. If the BBMP officials do not take timely measures, the problem will become widespread and acute. Already, there is a huge garbage piled up on Avenue Road and Sampagiramanagar areas,” he pointed out.
Ganesh said the leaders should not politicise the garbage issue and work for the disposal of garbage during the festive season. “I have called for a meeting with BBMP officials and directed them to be work day and night to clear the garbage. The garbage generated in my ward is being sent to Kaggalipura. I am expecting at least 70% of the garbage to be lifted,” Ganesh said.
Most of the garbage piled up on the streets is mixed waste, which has been collected from residents and dumped. The BBMP has still not set up dry waste segregation centres at all the 198 wards, which has resulted in the huge pile-up of plastic waste on the streets.
According to a BBMP officer, even though there is a huge demand for the plastic waste from private companies, they are not coming forward to collect them. “They want the plastic waste to segregated into small, big and separate inert materials. But the BBMP is not providing the same,” the officer said. Till there are no functional dry segregation units, the plastic waste will continue to be dumped on the roadsides.
However, the BBMP is hopeful of disposing of wet waste generated during the festive season. “The wet waste, which will be 70% of the total waste generated in this season, will be shifted to farms,” the officer said.
But with already 10,000 tonnes of garbage already on the streets, it will be an uphill task for the Palike to deal with the extra waste generated on festival days.
JD(S) leader at BBMP T Thimmegowda alleged that though the residents were segregating waste and giving it to the garbage collectors, the latter were mixing it at a dumping point. He said mayor D Venkatesh Murthy and BJP ministers were indulging in publicity stunts and not trying to find a solution to the crisis.
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