Controversial ‘secondary collection point’ on ORR to be relocated

The issue of secondary collection point (SCP) on the service road of Outer Ring Road reached a flash point the other day. The amount of garbage removed from the service road that is home to Mantri Sarovar apartments went on to show the extent to which the drains are regularly being clogged by garbage, sludge and leachate.

“The entire stretch from Agara Flyover to BDA Flyover both sides of the Service road is filled with garbage,” says resident activist Kavitha Reddy. “The drains are choked to the brim with garbage, and on the BDA flyover side is the SCP, where the leachate enters the drain or is just stagnating on the road that eventually enters the Agara Lake inlets!”

The residents have repeatedly suggested to the BBMP that the SCP has to be shifted as its only adding to more problems as people dump more and more waste on the road side. “There are four educational institutes in a 50-meter radius and a lake in 75-meter radius,” reasons Reddy. “The tourist buses add to the misery as they clean the buses on both sides of the service road and push out huge amount of garbage from the buses on to the roads. I have also requested BBMP many times to issue notices to all travel agencies and warn them not to park buses on the service road.”

Though HSR is blessed with an efficient health inspector in Vinodh GM, he cannot do much except apply band aid whenever the problem of garbage spillage occurs on ORR. “If HSR is doing 95% segregation as some groups in HSR claim, then there is no need for an SCP? The waste can be directly dumped into the compactor on any of the main roads without garbage being dropped on the road?”

However, BBMP officials say that the problem will remain even if the SCP is removed. “The sludge from tourist buses and BWSSB will continue to clog the drains,” says health inspector Vinodh GM. “At the SCP, there is no segregation being done. The dry waste is being sent to the dry waste centre and the wet waste goes into the compactor. However, while this is being done, the leachate enters the drain. This problem will be resolved in two months as a tender is called to relocate the SCP.”

Another problem is the 200-metre drain along the service road that has the stamp of Gail Gas. “We have not touched this stretch as it has installed high pressure gail gas. Otherwise, we would have made a temporary drain to deal with the leachate. As far as the tourist buses are concerned, it’s the job of the traffic police to ensure that no parking happens on the service road.”