The communities living around Mandur landfills on Saturday intensified their protest against dumping of garbage in their village after the first round of talks with the government remained inconclusive. They have decided to prevent trucks from dumping garbage in the landfills.
Freedom fighter H.S. Doreswamy, president of Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha Kodihalli Chandrashekhar and Aam Admi Party member Ravikrishna Reddy have expressed solidarity with the protesting communities.
Manjunath Rao, a Mandur resident, said, “We are not ready to give more time. We will prevent the trucks from coming to our village. We will withdraw the protest only when dumping of garbage ceases.”
Mr. Doreswamy and Mr. Chandrashekhar called for permanent solutions to the crisis and demanded that the government and BBMP look for alternate sites for processing the city’s waste soon. Mr. Doreswamy also wants the BBMP to take up processing of accumulated waste soon. He said that he, along with the community members, would stage a protest in front of Town Hall from Monday and meet Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as well.
Meanwhile, Mayor B.S. Sathyanarayana said that the BBMP is looking to process the 25 lakh tonnes of accumulated waste in the landfills on a war footing. It is already in talks with a few companies in this regard.
City in-charge Minister R. Ramalinga Reddy told The Hindu that he met Mr. Doreswamy on Saturday evening and requested him to urge the communities to allow dumping for a few more months. “The Chief Minister has assured the communities that in six months’ time, dumping of garbage will stop. While a few processing units that are in the pipeline will be ready by then, we are also looking for alternate sites,” he said.
Asked if garbage will be sent to Mandur landfills on Saturday night, he responded in the affirmative. “If the communities stop the trucks, we may be forced to impose prohibitory orders again,” he added.
