Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D.K. Shivakumar’s surprise visit to waste processing plants in the city led to to at least one plant that was shut down restart work immediately. Directions to utilise the waste processing capacity at other plants fully were put in place.
There are about seven processing plants in Bengaluru, of which at least three had halted operations due to stiff opposition from the public when the Assembly elections were around the corner.
The plant at Seegehalli in Yelahanka that was shut down, restarted operations after Mr. Shivakumar’s visit on Sunday. The plant has the capacity to process 120 tonnes of wet waste and it was stopped owing to stiff opposition from residents around the plant. A BBMP official said that now with the unit restarting, the overall capacity of processing has stepped up again.
Mr. Shivakumar also visited Kannahalli and Doddabidarakallu plants. The Kannahalli plant is running on full capacity processing 350 tonnes of waste. Although its capacity is 150 tonnes, the Doddabidarakallu plant is processing 110 tons currently. He directed the officials to increase the capacity.
A senior official in the BBMP said the KCDC plant at Kudlu and at Chikkanagamangala had met with opposition from residents around them and a section of political leaders. During the time of Assembly polls, the civic body was forced to shut them down. Now both are up and running.
The official said operation of seven plants always faces hurdles due to the foul smell they emanate. Now, with the Dy.CM taking keen interest in running the plants, the BBMP will pursue him to keep the plants running through out the year convincing the public of the need of such plants to handle the huge amount of waste the city is generating, the official said.
