MLA wants a playground on a landfill

BBMP has rightly identified the area as a tree park

By NIRMALA G

The 16.5-acre rejuvenation plan of the Somasundrapalya lake has begun. The dewatering has started and desilting will be next. However, the Rs 5.2 crore project that is supposed to get over within six months has hit a stumbling block. MLA Sathish Reddy has put up a board at the entrance of the landfill area that he would make a playground over here. However, it’s a foolhardy idea and rife with danger.

To begin with, a playground needs to be flattened and this garbage mountain (all the filth collected by the Karnataka Compost Development Corporation is underneath this) can never be removed because it’s nothing but a landfill with poisonous gases that have accumulated underneath for years together. Removing the RDF (refuse derived fuel) completely will be impossible, according to those in the know. They compare the RDF mountain to a landfill because the contents under the soil capping are the same. The best idea is to plant hundreds of trees, so nature can heal itself. If you leave it open as a playground, the area will never heal itself and neither can it be a curved playground. And if the ground is going to be flattened, it could meet with disastrous consequences, as the poisonous methane and other gases could be released into the atmosphere.

That’s precisely why the Detailed Project Report of the BBMP has earmarked the four-acre RDF area for a tree park. When the MLA was apprised about the issue, he noted our points but has chosen not to issue any statement in this regard. We hope that he comes round to the fact that the playground is a bad idea and he should go along with the existing plans of the BBMP.

That said, we urge our readers to do something about not sending so much filth to the landfill in the first place. Donate clothes instead of throwing them away. Reduce food waste by donating rather than dumping it. Reuse shopping bags and containers; go for cloth bags. Save leftovers for the next day. Buy things with less packaging and boycott plastic water bottles.