Residents raise stink over waste plant at Electronic City

NT Correspondent
Bengaluru

Residents of the Electronic City want the Chikkanagamangala waste processing plant to be shut down, as they allege it was causing severe air, water and soil pollution in the area. Prashant Dubey, an Electronic City resident and President of a resident welfare association E-City Rising, said the residents started protesting against the plants in 2014. In 2016, the plant was closed after a fire broke out, but was reopened in 2018.

“The entire area is filled with flies and has a terrible smell, which is the main reason behind the polluted water in our area. We have also filed a complaint with Karnataka Pollution Board, but nothing has been done so far,” he said.

Residents also allege that the BBMP is piling up more solid waste than the plant can handle. The closure of some of the wet waste processing plants in the city, has forced the civic agency to shift the waste to the Chikkanagamangala waste processing plant. This has enraged the local residents.

However, in February, the BBMP denied the allegations and claimed that the plant was receiving only wet waste from 44 wards in the city. The Palike also added that the plant handles around 250 tonnes of wet waste per day, as against a capacity of 300 tonnes.

According to BBMP, there are seven wet waste processing plants in Bengaluru. But only four processing plants, KCDC (Kudlu Village) , Chikkanamangala (Electronics City), Doddabidarakallu (Yeshwanthpur) and Kannahalli (Magadi Road), are functional. The other plants had to shut down because of opposition from local residents.

“Three plants have already shut down. We are struggling to manage waste. We will soon come up with a solution for the waste management and complaints by the residents,” said Venkatesh Murthy, Chief Executive of processing plants, BBMP.