Villagers of Mavallipura on the outskirts have been protesting that the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has been treating their land as a dumpyard.
It is not fair that garbage generated in large quantities in urban centres be dumped in villages. For the past few years, villagers of Mavallipura on the outskirts have been protesting that the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has been treating their land as a dumpyard.
In Shimoga district too, a similar protest is brewing. The villagers of Kaluru are resentful that the Hosanagara municipality plans to dump garbage near the Linganamakki reservoir backwaters. D Nagappa, a farmer from Kaluru, is waging a battle to prevent his village from turning into a dumpster.
Nagappa said he has information that nearly 10 tonnes of garbage generated on a daily basis in Hosanagara municipality is being dumped in Kaluru. “The Hosanagara municipality has decided to dump the garbage at Agarasara Koppa, adjacent to the Linganamakki reservoir backwaters. This place is a thick forest and a home to varieties of birds and animals. There are more than 150 families residing there, and the municipality wants to turn such sylvan surroundings into a garbage dump,” said a furious Nagappa. The farmer added that dumping the garbage could also pollute the water and affect the fish in the area.
Nagappa firmly opposed the Hosanagara municipality’s bid to turn nearly 157 acres at Agasarakoppa into a garbage dump. He and his seven brothers jointly toil over 30 acres in the area, which is home to about 150 families. Can these families now live in the neighbourhood of a dumpyard, with foul smell and heightened fear of disease?
“The forest department, during its survey, identified 1,315 trees in the forest, mostly avenue trees (Honge), Nandi trees, Pebble trees and other rare species. Four months back, the municipality had tried to construct a compound wall around the proposed dumping site, but villagers protested, and the move was abandoned. In the past five days, however, there have been JCBs deployed to clear the land and construct a compound wall, and nearly 100 trees have been uprooted,” he said.
On November 19, 2002, the M Guddekoppa Grama Panchayat, under the chairmanship of Chandravathamma K Achar, took a unanimous decision to approach the deputy commissioner of Shimoga and the tahsildar of Hosanagar, in case the forest areas were destroyed to facilitate dumping of waste.
In an order of January 22, 2003, the deputy commissioner stated that in survey no 33, which was part of the land meant to be acquired for the dumpyard, of the 30.4 acres, 26.14 acres is kharab land. Since there were no homes, lakes, religious places or wells in that land, or within a half-kilometre radius, the forest department was of the opinion that the land could be used without causing harm to the trees on it. On that basis, the deputy commissioner offered a conditional approval for the Hosanagara municipality’s garbage disposal and management proposal.
Nagappa, however, is determined to preserve his village from the onslaught of urban waste. He has already met several MLAs and political leaders. Nagappa has approached high court advocate RLN Murthy for help and has served notice to the pollution control board, Shimoga, for permitting the garbage disposal plan in forest areas and near backwaters.
Murthy said, “Before taking a decision on public issues, authorities should be open to suggestions from the public. The Hosanagara municipality has violated this practice. If garbage is dumped in forest land, the whole environment could suffer irreparable damage.”
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