After preventing trucks laden with garbage from reaching the quarry pit at Bellahalli on Saturday, communities living around the landfill relented and allowed dumping of waste on Sunday afternoon. On Saturday, they had staged a protest near the landfill, even digging a trench on the road to prevent the vehicles from going in.

Nanje Gowda, who lives near the quarry pit, said that though the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had assured the community of taking up development work in surrounding areas, nothing had changed on the ground.

BBMP officials claimed that in the past three years, nearly ₹1,200 crore had been earmarked for development work, including supply of drinking water and development of waterbodies. They stated that the BBMP had sought additional police protection to ensure that dumping of waste at the landfill continued without interruption.

BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad said Yelahanka MLA S.R. Vishwanath and a few councillors were alleging that development grants were being given only to villages where quarry pits were. They have been demanding funds for development work for surrounding villages as well, which are bearing the brunt too, given that many heavy vehicles pass through them everyday, damaging roads. He said the civic administration had discussed the issue with Mr. Vishwanath and had assured the MLA of sanctioning development grants for the Yelahanka Assembly constituency.

Officials also stated that the civic body was now contemplating the next course of action to prevent such incidents from recurring. “All the mixed waste from the city is sent to Bellahalli. This is largely waste collected from black spots and street sweeping,” officials stated, and added that the civic body was contemplating setting up machines at the landfill site for sorting. This way, recyclables could be recovered.