Bangalore:
Bangalore is being spruced up for its biennial air show, Aero India, which draws international participants and tourists.
A 30-acre landfill, where 550 tonnes of Bangalore's garbage is dumped every single day, is being covered up by the civic authorities.
NDTV had recently reported on how the landfill, at just 5.7 km away from the air force base, posed a grave threat to flying aircraft.
"All the old garbage which is dumped there is being covered with tarpaulin sheets. Now what will happen is the fresh garbage which is going to be dumped there, will be dumped after 6 o'clock in the evening, so that birds coming to that area will minimise," said M K Ayyappa, Deputy Commissioner, Bangalore Urban district.
The decision to cover the garbage areas with tarpaulin to counter the threat of bird-hit has not found favour with environmentalists.
"Nothing can be more ridiculous as the solution because the tarpaulin will fly with the birds. Wind energy is so high there. Importantly, the tarpaulin may even catch fire, because there is biodynamic heat. You have to keep on dousing water to ensure that doesn't happen," said Leo Saldanha, founder, Environment Support Group.
Clearly, it's time to raise a stink about the way we dump our garbage and not just for the sake of the air show.