By Chandrima Mazumdar
Pictures of ‘black water’ coming out of the SWM plant near Electronic City (E-city) surfaced on Twitter in the midst of the recent online campaign against the setting up of the Solid Waste Management (SWM) plant in Chikkanagamangala. Shaista claimed that the occurrence is “polluting the nearby areas and groundwater”. Called ‘tweetstorm’, the campaign will begin from 2pm-7pm on November 1 (Sunday).
Two-year struggle
The protests against the setting up of the SWM plant have been going on for more than two years now. However, the opposition went viral with the online campaign started recently by the residents of Chikkanagamangala, Doddanagamangala, Electronic City Phase II, GS Play, and surrounding areas. Their complaints have gathered thousands of followers on Twitter. Pictures of the papers of Extension of the Authorization for wet waste processing facility under Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) which allege that BBMP itself is violating the Board’s own directions. The importance of proper storage of the incoming organic waste on site before processing and covering the waste storage area are mandated by KSPCB. The distraught citizens are urging the Board to revoke the approval given to the SWM plant in Chikkanagamangala. Deepu Chandran alleges that while the KSPCB had asked BBMP to set up a leachate treatment facility, no action has yet been taken, and two notices to the BBMP have gone unanswered till date.
The letter that extends the authorisation of wet waste processing by the pollution control board
Over 3200 residents sign online petition
Besides this, an online Change.org petition by Pranay Dubey, a business analyst, who has also recently formed Electronic City Rising on Twitter, has gathered more than 3,200 signatures. Reacting to his tweet, Salman Jose says: “The waste plant is causing a lot of foul smell in the residential area. The plant should be closed down or should be sealed and operated so that it does not cause nuisance to the people in the locality”.
The online petition against the polluting plant
Residents had also blocked Hosur Road before the pandemic began
The residents of Electronic City, which, interestingly, is not under the jurisdiction of BBMP, and the nearby areas started the protest in late 2018 when BBMP signed an agreement to set up an incineration-based Waste-to-Energy (WtE) plant at Chikkanagamangala. In April 2019, momentary relief came to the residents when Deputy Chief Minister Dr C N Ashwanath Narayan’s office sent a letter to the BBMP asking them to examine the plant, and take steps to ease the residents’ woes. However, Randeep D, BBMP Special Commissioner (SWM) had denied awareness of any such letter. The protest regained momentum days before Bangalore went into complete COVID-19 lockdown in early July this year when the citizens of Electronic City Phase-II blocked the Hosur Road stretch leading up to the SWM plant to prevent garbage carrying trucks from entering the plant. At the time, the police had managed to disperse the protestors. The dissenting residents were allegedly forced to take this step when the plant started releasing leachate (toxic liquid) which increased the problems of pungent smell for the people living in the area who had already been encountering similar problems before.
