The Vidhana Soudha located in Bengaluru (Bangalore), India is the seat of the state legislature of Karnataka. (File photo)
BANGALORE, INDIA: Would you believe that soil can catch fire? From an experience in the city of Bengaluru, India, it can be safely said, it is possible.
Residents of Lakshmipura in Anekal, 20 kms from Bengaluru, are literally facing the heat. The area had been identified for dumping garbage. Now, the garbage has turned so poisonous that even the soil is catching fire. The methane gases that are being released from the garbage are the cause of the fire.
Lakshmipura is one of the 20 designated spots around India’s technology capital where unsegregated garbage is being dumped.
At first, residents in Anekal said they were alarmed when they saw that by just placing a piece of rolled up paper on the soil, it caught fire. The toxic gases have caught on so much that even the air around the area seems heavy. They say that the garbage dumping has been taking place for nearly three years now, but nobody has come and seen if it is being disposed off scientifically.
“If you see, for every truckload of garbage that they dump here, they should dump two truckloads of mud so that the garbage decomposes. But that doesn't mean they should also dump materials such as batteries and electronic goods that have lethal liquids in them,” said Venugopal who has been living in that area since his childhood.
Some of the labourers living nearby are now using these noxious flames to cook food. Many, who cannot afford their own gas connection, have found a way to make their food with the heat emanating from the earth.
Six ground water wells have been dug and all are contaminated. The villagers get drinking water from a village 100 km away in tankers or end up paying Rs 300 per tanker to supply water to the 900 homes in that area.
Srinivas, who has been trying to lead a campaign against this with the Bengaluru South MLA under whom this area falls said, “We challenge the legislators to spend one month with us here. If they can survive, we will keep our lips sealed for the rest of our lives!”
Experts working in the field say that the garbage and much of the untreated industrial waste and sewage created a concoction of sorts that make the air and the water around combustible.
The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike has announced an ex-gratia amount of Rs 25 lakh to dump mud in that area to reduce its toxicity.
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