Bangalore’s garbage crisis grows in heaps and mounds - Roundup of news over the last three weeks (October 29 –November 18, 2012)

Bangalore’s garbage crisis grows in heaps and mounds

The city is drowning in its own waste with garbage trucks regularly lined up for hours, their burdens putrefying in the afternoon sun. Some neighborhoods have not had trash pickups for nearly three weeks, and vast mounds of garbage are scattered through out the city.

The city’s garbage crisis became messier when garbage contractors staged a protest in front of the office of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner Rajneesh Goel demanding security for their vehicles. Over the past few months, Bangalore city converted from Garden and IT city to a garbage city. One of the recent articles published in the NewYork Times identifies Bangalore as one of the dirtiest cities globally.                       

Even the dying lakes in the city have now become the dumping grounds for the mounting garbage in the metropolis.The garbage crisis has revealed the dark underbelly of Bangalore’s growth story and the long-term solution must find a place for garbage cleaners and recyclers. Taking a cue from the garbage mess in Bangalore, Mysore City Corporation (MCC) aims for better management by decentralizing solid waste processing and improving segregation of waste at source.

Highly toxic dump yards at Kodungaiyur and Perungudi, Chennai to be closed scientifically

A study has shown high levels of heavy metal-laden dust in air samples taken from around the Kodungaiyur dumpyard, exposing residents around the area to acute health hazards. Despite a standing order of the Madras High Court, burning of garbage in the area continues unabated.How ever, the city's notorious and highly toxic dump yards at Kodungaiyur and Perungudi will finally be closed. Garbage from Chennai will be disposed of in four new places where the corporation plans to set up waste management systems.

Upcoming land acquisition bill proposal: Private projects to need consent of 80% of landowners while for public ones no consent is required

Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, who heads a group of ministers (GoM) on the bill, said the earlier decision to seek the consent of two-thirds - 66.6% - of the landowners has been revised. Though the bill proposes four times the market value as compensation for rural land, it is understood that states would be given flexibility to fix the value proportionate to distance from the urban centres.

The proposed Land Acquisition Bill aims to remove the hurdles in acquisition of land for the infrastructure projects built for public. The draft bill says the government can acquire land for public private partnership (PPP) projects with the consent of 67 per cent of landowners in the areas but it should have a majority stake in the project. However, if a PPP is driven by private companies, then land acquisition requires consent of at least 80 per cent of landowners.

Uttarakhand tops Environmental Performance Index, a green ranking rated by Planning Commission based on air and water quality, waste management, forest cover and climate change

The panel lists Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh as the other top four states on its Environmental Performance Index, which will serve as a measure of a state's green initiative and be linked to financial assistance from the Centre

Diwali night sees a rise in air pollution levels while noise levels decline compared with last year, in Delhi

The rise in air pollution can be attributed to adverse meteorological conditions and the fact that people probably burst more smoke-producing crackers.Heaps of burnt crackers, mithai boxes and wrappers added to the waste generated in the city on Diwali. This year Delhi produced 1,000-1,200 metric tonnes more Diwali waste than last year.