Bengaluru: Bengaluru’s garbage problem spilled over to the busy Bengaluru-Mangaluru National Highway on Saturday, as hundreds of residents of Gorur village in Magadi taluk blocked the NH 48 near Solur Cross opposing the proposed waste-to-energy plant by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike.
Traffic was disrupted for more than an hour after hundreds of people led by farmer leaders, seers of various maths and the former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy took out a massive rally in protest against the setting up of the plant and the alleged police brutality on locals in Gorur in Magadi taluk of Ramanagaram district.
Hundreds of vehicles were stranded on either side of the highway for over an hour. Normality was restored after police convinced the protesters to allow traffic movment.
What had happened
One person was seriously injured and 10 others sustained injuries after the police caned village residents who were opposing the survey of the land on Friday where the proposed waste-to-energy plant will come up.
Saturday’s protest witnessed sloganeering against the government’s decision to set up the plant. The protesters reiterated that they would not allow the government to make their village “another Mandur” and demanded the government withdraw its decision.
“They are claiming that garbage will not be dumped here and that they are setting up a processing plant. But all this is an eye wash. They are only looking for an alternative site to dump garbage that would have otherwise gone to the Mandur landfill,” a resident said.
