Mandur, Karnataka:
An eerie sight of vultures hovering atop a 100-feet deep garbage dump yard greets people who come to this village, just 25 kilometers away from Bangalore. Mandur is an address no resident is proud of, with mountains of untreated waste, soaring towards the sky, seeping into the ground.
It is a war between Mandur and the Karnataka government over the dumping of garbage in this area. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah requested for six more months so that the civic bodies can identify another dumpyard. But is this a new start of the same problem? Is finding another dumpyard the real solution to Bangalore's garbage mess?
55-year-old Narayanamma complained of acute breathlessness and nausea six days ago. Before her son, Murthy could rush her to a hospital, she died. Murthy and the villagers say - from the air they breathe, to the food that grows in Mandur to the water, all are severely contaminated.
"I joined the protest at the dump yard for only three days. And I am yet to recover from the cough and fever, I have developed. In the last six days, I spent Rs 1000 for medicines but my cough won't go. I have rashes all over my body," said Murthy Raja to NDTV. Another farmer Raghu says, "The water here is black. I grow grapes and mangoes. The water doesn't help but destroy our crops."
After Mavalipura, Mandur is next in line to be shut down by December as promised by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The Bangalore civic body or BBMP has bigger plans than its means. "We do intend to do bio mining in Mandur over the next three years to treat the waste. But mixed waste is a challenge. We are at it. We will by then identify, "Lakshminarayana N, BBMP Commissioner told NDTV.
He says that once a new landfill is identified, processing units will be set up right next to the garbage dump yard and they will process the bio waste to produce energy. The dry waste will be recycled and processed. Environmentalists say the fundamental part of the solution is the segregation of dry and wet waste at homes.