The stink from KCDC compost plant may come down soon

By Anuksha Dey 

A group of citizens (Kamesh Rastogi, Venkatesh HS, Lalithamba BV) who recently visited the Karnataka Compost Development Corporation (KCDC) in Kudlu near HSR Layout are happy with the developments. They found the plant belonging to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to be better managed, and receiving much less garbage than before. Besides, the RDF mountain which was causing stink in and around the area, has also been removed by almost 60%. If all goes well, KCDC will stink much less in the months to come, if the KCDC finally gets rid of the entire RDF material on its grounds.

Fact-finding visit

Members of Kudlu, Harlur, Harlakunte, Somasunderpalya, Parangipalya Residents Welfare Organisation (KHHSP RWA) went on a fact-finding visit to the KCDC unit last week to understand the reason behind the stench from the area. The residents wanted to see how efficiently the waste was being handled, and if appropriate measures were being taken to prevent the stench. 

Need for a fact-finding report 

The residents experienced the stench at night from the KCDC plant around February 23. However, the authorities claimed that everything was under control at the compost unit, and the smell was not the result of waste mismanagement. Furthermore, public entry to the area was prohibited after pictures from the plant were released to the media a while ago. “We have been interacting with KCDC since 2013, and the officials have given us wrong information on various occasions,” reasons resident Kamesh Rastogi of KHHSP RWA. “We wanted to go to the plant ourselves and see what the ground reality was.”

Improvement in waste management methods

After the visit, the team of residents concluded that the plant was being managed better than before. “Previously the plant used to have an intake of 500 metric tonnes of waste that it was not able to process completely,” informs Rastogi. “The waste used to touch the roof as there was quite a backlog. The intake has been reduced from 500 to about 100 metric tonnes. The waste is getting moved out regularly now and there is no backlog.”

Stench continues to be a problem

The stench, however, continues to be a problem. The KCDC officials informed the team that the stink was caused by the removal of RDF (refuse-derived fuel) material that had accumulated at the plant over the years. The RDF material, which contains traces of methane and therefore highly inflammable, has caused fires in the area over the last three years. “We have been  getting the stench around 8pm every day,” says Rastogi. BBMP joint commissioner (Bommanahalli) M Ramakrishna and KCDC plant supervisor Uma Shankar have informed the fact finding team that about 60% of the RDF material has been removed, and the rest would be cleared in the next four weeks.

The ‘shut down KCDC’ movement

The KCDC plant has been a problem for the residents of the area since it resumed operations in 2013. The plant which was originally set up in the 1970s continues to function to date with outdated equipment. Furthermore, the unit is one of the two remaining composting plants left in Bengaluru out of the twenty-two that were originally set up. This means wet waste from Madiwala, KR Market and other areas are directed to the plant, overburdening the system, and resulting in stench when the bio-filters fail to function. The KCDC plant also encroached 4.1 acres of the Somasundrapalya lake land by dumping RDF material on it. 

PIL against KCDC

Due to these problems, the KHHSP RWA started the ‘Shut Down KCDC’ movement. In 2018, the resident association filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against the KCDC plant, BBMP and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), claiming that the location of the plant affected the citizen’s right to breathe. The Karnataka High Court accepted the petition in February 2019, and ordered KSPCB to submit an action-taken-report by April 5, 2020, highlighting the steps taken by KCDC.

However, the report has not been submitted yet, and BBMP cannot do anything without the pollution board’s report. On February 19, 2020, the RWA filed a contempt  case against the KSPCB for not obeying the court order. Meanwhile, citizens in and around HSR Layout and Kudlu have to put up with the stench from the waste composting plant.