The BS Yediyurappa-led Karnataka government has claimed that the garbage woes of Bengaluru will be mitigated in the next two years. In a written reply during the Assembly proceedings on Tuesday, the state government said that five waste-to-energy plants will come up in the city to take care of the waste management lacunas in the current system. JC Madhuswamy, Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, was replying to a question by Shantinagar MLA NA Haris, on behalf of Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, who holds the Bengaluru Development portfolio.
MLA Madhuswamy said that 4,000 out of 5,000 tonnes of all of the city's waste will be treated in these plants where the garbage will be used to yield power or compressed natural gas. He reiterated that all of these plants will be ready and functional within the next two years. He also added that if the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited does not buy the power generated by the plants, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) can use that power.
TNM has earlier reported that the two of these plants will be set up in Bidadi and Kannahalli to reduce dependency on landfills. Madhuswamy said three more plants will come up in Doddabidarakallu, Mavalipura and Marenahalli in Bengaluru.
Incidentally, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had inaugurated the work on the Bidadi plant earlier this month.
At present, Bengaluru generates about 2,800 tonnes of mixed waste on a daily basis. This is currently dumped in landfills, which are unhygienic, unsustainable and are under scrutiny from the Karnataka High Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT). However, like landfills, waste-to-energy plants, too, are not favoured by environmentalists as the waste is incarcerated, which can release toxins into the air and, in turn, affect the health of residents living near the plant.
Recently, it was also reported that the current BJP-led state government is mulling setting up a dedicated waste-processing agency like the BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board) for the city’s water and sewage management.