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Journalism of Courage
Several lakes in Bengaluru have witnessed instances of fish kill in recent months and on August 20, Chikkanagamangala Lake reported the 15th such incident in the city this year when hundreds of dead fish were seen floating at the edge of the lake.
“Fish are dead because of the inflow of water from the solid waste management unit. Fisheries department officers have already visited the spot and instructed the gram panchayat officials to take necessary action to control the water inflow and remove the dead fish,” it said.
The lake is located in Shantipura gram panchayat. In September 2022, the NGT’s Principal Bench in New Delhi ordered a joint committee to prepare an action plan to stop the leakage of leachate from the waste processing plant. The panel comprised the Regional Director of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), regional officers of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and those of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB).
In February this year, the committee recommended that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) should seek environmental compensation from the civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) which runs the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) processing plant.
Panay Dubey, a resident of Electronic City, said, “The MSW processing plant near such a beautiful and vast lake itself is a big catastrophe created by the government. Even after establishing the plant by flouting norms, environmental laws have not been followed. This was established through a report submitted by a joint committee formed by the NGT which recommended levying compensation.”
“The government should shut down this plant if they cannot run it as per law. Leachate from this plant should be treated within its premises and the treated water should be taken by Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), but they have still not installed a Leachate Treatment Plant (LTP).”
Electronic City residents have held several protests to draw the government’s attention to the pollution caused by the plant.
Based on his inspection of the plant on June 30, 2019, the chairperson of the NGT State Level Committee, Justice Subhash B Adi had then stated, “The compost produced was too less in comparison to waste received. It was observed that the leachate treatment was not carried out.”
On August 25, BBMP Zonal Commissioner (South Zone), Jayaram Raipura inspected the waste processing plant and said that a leachate treatment unit has been set up in the area by a private firm. He said the unit will be fully operational once the KSPCB gives clearance. “It has the capacity to treat 50,000 litres of leachate daily and produce 30,000 litres of water. Once the unit is fully operational, the treated water will be supplied to farmers for agricultural use and construction activities,” Raipura added. He said the MSW plant has an optimum capacity to process 300 tonnes of waste every day but it currently processes only 280 tonnes.
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