Bellahalli Quarry in a bad State Again

The Bellahalli quarry landfill is being dumped with mixed waste, even after the Karnataka High Court’s order to dumped waste separately.

The quarry had caught fire on April 11, 2018, according to a report given in the Deccan Chronicle newspaper.

When visited the area, the residents who live near the landfill state that there had been no fire accident as such near the landfill, as had been reported in the Deccan newspaper.  The residents who gave evidence had been living in the same area for the past five to eight years, but were not aware of the fire accident.

The Karnataka High Court had then given an order to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to dump waste in separate landfills, separating wet and dry refuse.  The dry waste should be sent to recycling centers at each ward. The waste that is been sent to the landfills should be mud capped, and lemon grass must be sprayed to avoid foul smell.

Rasool Khan, expert in waste management said, “If waste is being dumped together without segregating it, the dry waste cannot be recycled and it will not decompose, so plants will not grow in the area and the ground water will not get recharged, as water cannot percolate the waste layer.”

Sandhiya, a BBMP officer said, “The problem starts in the root level. The waste is not getting separated at the ward level.   The contractors are not doing their jobs properly.  Even if the waste is divided properly, when dumping it into the garbage vans, they mix it.  The assistant engineers, who are responsible for supervising the activity, are not doing their job. And thus this affects the society as a whole as well as Mother Earth.”