Construction waste disposal: BBMP doesn’t care for rules

BENGALURU:THE BBMP has not followed several rules with regard to the disposal of construction and demolition waste, and this has led to an increase in illegal dumping of debris, say experts.As per a notification issued by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in March 2016, communities that generate more than 20 tons or more in one day are required to segregate the waste, keep it in their premises or get it deposited at a collection centre or hand it over to the authorised processing facilities and pay charges for collection, transportation, processing and disposal.

“Although the expert committee worked on and gave recommendations for the CnD (construction and demolition) waste policy, BBMP has so far taken no action whatsoever to implement the rules,” said a subject expert. The expert said that most of the segregated waste turns into resources. “The government subsidises sale of gypsum to farmers, the concrete could be sold for usage in a stone crusher,” the expert added.

The rules also state that one of the duties of the local authority is to ‘get the collected waste transported to appropriate sites for processing and disposal either through own resources or by appointing private operators.’Kathyayini Chamaraj, Executive Trustee at CIVIC, an NGO working on civic and social issues, said, “The rules state that a helpline should be made available for citizens to dispose of construction debris, and it has been done in other cities but not here. So contractors, even those who generate little waste, are asked to dump it in quarries which are far-off, and they might not be able to afford a truck. This leads to an increase in illegal dumping.”

N S Ramakanth, member, BBMP Expert Committee on Solid Waste, was among those who had formulated a policy for disposal of construction waste. Provision of a helpline connecting to a BBMP control room was also a part of the policy. “We also suggested a designated quarry for each zone, and the person who transports it should show a slip that he would get at the quarry as proof. Now what happens is they dump illegally wherever they find space. Once in a month, BBMP clears it at its own cost. We have suggested a very goof policy but still they are not able to implement it,” he said.