Over the past few days, residents and office goers had been keeping a worried eye on the fire that has been raging at the illegal landfill, surrounded by tech parks and IT campuses, near the Kundalahalli lake.
On Tuesday, the local residents, alarmed over the fire spreading, alerted emergency services who struggled to bring it under control.
The residents are questioning how the landfill was allowed to come up, let alone grow in size with each passing year. Gilbert Millicent Nathan, who works in a tech park in the area, said dumping of waste has increased over the last five to six years. “It began with construction debris; and soon trucks and lorries started dumping mixed waste at the site,” he said.
There have also been complaints of waste routinely being set on fire, which in turn affects the quality of the air. “Thousands of people, who work in the companies in the tech parks and IT campuses, are scared to step outside. The stench emanating from the site is unbearable,” Mr. Nathan added.
Apathy from officials
This is not the first time the illegal landfill has been in the news. In December 2018, residents lodged a complaint with the Whitefield police over the indiscriminate dumping of waste. Volunteers, who are part of the citizens group Whitefield Rising, have also brought the issue to the notice of local MLA Aravind Limbavali, apart from lodging complaints with the BBMP on the Sahaya app. According to Akhilesh Mishra, a local volunteer, the garbage mounds are as high as an eight-storey building. At the dump site, several hutments have appeared and around 60 people are living in hazardous conditions. “The Kundalahalli lake was recently rejuvenated by BBMP and United Way Bengaluru. If any mishap happens, the garbage mounds will fall into the rejuvenated lake,” he said.
Mr. Limbavali had visited the illegal dumpyard in November last, accompanied by local BBMP and police officials. He had directed the BBMP to identify the owners of the land on which the dumpyard had come up and issue notices to them. “We don't know what happened after that,” said Mr. Nathan.
BBMP promises action
Acknowledging the problem, BBMP's Special Commissioner (Solid Waste Management) D. Randeep told The Hindu that there were multiple challenges. The BBMP has to ascertain where the waste and vehicles used to dump garbage are coming from.
“The zonal commissioner and the jurisdictional assistant executive engineer will visit the site on Wednesday. They have also been instructed to issue notices to the owners,” he said, adding that vehicles caught dumping waste will be seized.
The BBMP will also analyse how corrosive the waste is, and prepare an estimate on how much it will cost to clear it.