Polluters beware: Armed marshals to guard Bengaluru’s quarry landfills from Monday

Remember BBMP's plan to deploy clean up marshals in every ward? Well, they will only monitor landfills.
Polluters beware: Armed marshals to guard Bengaluru’s quarry landfills from Monday
Polluters beware: Armed marshals to guard Bengaluru’s quarry landfills from Monday
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In December 2016, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagare Palike (BBMP) had announced a plan to recruit ex-servicemen to patrol the streets of Bengaluru and fine offenders who do not follow waste management rules.

Six months after the ambitious plan was proposed by the Sainik Welfare and Resettlement Board, the Palike has decided to implement a watered-down version of the plan.

The marshals are coming to Bengaluru but they will not be deployed in all the wards but only near quarry- landfills, located in the outskirts of the city.

These armed clean-up marshals will note the entry and exit of all garbage trucks in the landfills in order to check illegal dumping of waste.

“The residents from villages surrounding landfills complain of garbage truck drivers dumping waste around the landfill, causing the foul odour to spread across these villages. People have said that local thugs blackmail truck drivers and even assault BBMP officials if they do not give in to illegal dumping of waste. The marshals will ensure that such acts do not occur. CCTVs have been put up at the entry and exit gates of the quarries,” Joint Commissioner of BBMP’s Solid Waste Management Department, Sarfaraz Khan said.

According to Col Rajveer Singh, Code of Military Police and coordinator of the plan, the BBMP has decided to deploy the marshals to monitor the waste being dumped at the Bagalur, Mittaganahalli, Kannur and Bellahalli landfills and nearby villages.

“Currently, the BBMP has recruited 15 marshals for the Bellahalli landfill. It has not yet decided how many ex-servicemen will be hired for the other three. The number of men who will be recruited for each landfill will differ depending up on how big they are. The decision should be made by Monday,” Col Rajveer said.

These clean-up marshals have been recruited from the Karnataka Ex-Servicemen Welfare society, which is supported by the Karnataka government’s Sainik Welfare and Resettlement Board.

“They will be armed with both single and double barrel rifles,” Col Rajveer added.

He said that the BBMP has decided to pay each clean-up marshal Rs 25,000 per month as remuneration. “The Solid Waste Management Department of the BBMP has got the council’s approval for the marshal’s salaries. They will start work on Monday at Bellahalli,” he said.

Sarfaraz Khan said that the Palike’s Council, after discussing the proposal for clean-up marshals, gave its approval to deploy them only at quarries and waste processing plants, but not in the wards.

“The Council has decided to implement the proposal in landfills and eight other waste processing units. On Monday, they will be deployed in the landfills and new teams will be deployed for the other units soon. If this works, then the Council will think about implementing the plan across various wards. As of now, it will not be so,” Sarfaraz Khan added.

The ex-servicemen will be deployed in three shifts for round-the-clock patrolling

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