Unsung Heroes: Octogenarian woman who helped change waste disposal in Indian cities is still worried about Bengaluru

“Frogs sang successful the twilight connected our scenic state roadworthy until 1991, erstwhile Bangalore metropolis corp began regular dumping truckloads of metropolis garbage connected some sides of the roadworthy and into the marshes and watercourse banks “because determination is obscurity other to dump it,” she states.

“Till that time, similar astir metropolis folk, I ne'er knew oregon thought astir wherever metropolis garbage ended up oregon how,” she says. With the unregulated garbage dumping came the occupation of packs of menacing stray dogs astir the dumps.

Using her acquisition arsenic an technologist with degrees from MIT successful the US and arsenic an entrepreneur and her innate emotion for quality and the environment, Almitra Patel acceptable astir uncovering solutions for Bangalore’s burgeoning garbage occupation that went beyond the modular “not successful my backyard”.

In the aboriginal years, Almitra, who is present recognised arsenic 1 of the pioneers of efforts to resoluteness the waste disposal contented crossed India’s large cities, worked with Bangalore’s metropolis officials and industries to find solutions for the garbage problem.

After the 1994 Surat plague, caused by unhygienic conditions, Almitra joined Capt J S Velu, who was besides trying to find solutions for discarded disposal successful cities. He took portion successful the archetypal of 2 Clean India campaigns helium conceived. The run for maintaining hygiene took them to 30 municipalities by roadworthy successful 30 days.

“We spent 5 days successful Surat connected our mode to Delhi and returned via Nagpur-Hyderabad. We learnt arsenic overmuch arsenic we were teaching and sharing connected the way. We recovered door-to-door schemes that had evolved people successful galore cities,” she said successful a station connected “life arsenic an environmentalist”.

One of the cardinal things she recovered retired during the archetypal Clean India Campaign was that “not conscionable Bangalore but astir each the cities of India had obscurity to dump their discarded but each implicit the outskirts and attack roads”.

After her instrumentality to Bangalore, Almitra brainstormed with 2 friends who had been warring to support fragile ecosystems. They encouraged her to record a Public Interest Litigation successful the Supreme Court to bring astir a argumentation for hygienic coagulated discarded absorption successful India.

In 1996, Almitra filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) to halt the unfastened dumping of garbage successful Indian cities with populations exceeding 1 lakh. This led to the Ministry of Environment and Forests issuing the Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules successful 2000, applicable to each towns and cities with populations implicit 20,000.

In 1998, she was portion of an eight-member Supreme Court-appointed committee that provided a study connected coagulated discarded absorption (SWM) successful Class 1 cities successful India. This yet led to the formulation of the discarded absorption rules by the MoEF successful 2000.

“Because I was doing this for nary idiosyncratic gain, and passim the lawsuit took an enabling, adjuvant and supportive cognition alternatively than an adversarial 1 of blaming others for the mess, I received tremendous enactment from the tribunal for my efforts,” Almitra said.

Numerous awards person marked her designation arsenic 1 of the foremost campaigners for businesslike coagulated discarded absorption successful India, including the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award, which she received connected November 1, 2024. Additionally, she has served arsenic an adept for the Swachh Bharat Mission since 2016, joined the Supreme Court committee for coagulated discarded absorption successful Delhi successful 2018, and acted arsenic an honorary advisor for the archetypal compost works successful Lahore, Pakistan, successful 2005.

Despite her aboriginal relation successful trying to make an businesslike SWM strategy successful Bengaluru, she is disappointed with however discarded disposal has evolved successful the city.

Speaking to The Indian Express, she said, “I americium incredibly, incredibly dissatisfied. I americium truthful disappointed that perfectly cipher is listening to the bully advice. I person stopped talking to anybody for a fewer years. They cognize I unrecorded successful the town, they cognize I americium disposable but they bash not attraction to inquire due to the fact that they don’t similar the proposal that is given.”

“The proposal being offered is that enforcing the fantabulous coagulated discarded rules established successful 2016 tin destruct dumping issues successful our area. Why is determination inactive a absorption connected collecting mixed waste? In Maharashtra, 7 cities, including Kalyan-Dombivli with a colonisation of 1.8 million, person successfully go zero discarded dump tract cities,” she stated.

“We person to see what they are doing and replicate it successful each ward successful each zone, past the metropolis tin beryllium dump-free,” she said.

One of the important problems with Bangalore’s discarded disposal system, which she describes arsenic a “hangover from assemblage times,” is the outgo operation for garbage contractors. This strategy is based connected the value of the garbage collected by the trucks, starring to mixed discarded being taken to dump sites alternatively of segregated waste.

“The contractors endanger the doorstep collectors if you bash not premix the discarded which is fixed separately arsenic bedewed and adust waste. They volition not wage you. They are forced to premix it due to the fact that the contractors privation to amusement much value astatine the dumping ground,” she said.

“If the contractors are paid per household, monitoring is imaginable done caller exertion similar RFID and truthful galore different things. It volition promote contractors to springiness each the adust discarded to the nearest sorting centre and the bedewed discarded to the piggery oregon centralised compositing oregon biogas portion oregon farmers oregon immoderate different facility,” the environmentalist said.

“Once the discarded is escaped of plastic, the bedewed discarded tin beryllium utilized successful galore ways, and they volition prevention wealth by crossing the municipality to scope the dumping yards and quarries. Dumping mixed discarded successful 60 ft heavy quarries is the implicit worst happening to bash due to the fact that the precocious h2o unit astatine the bottommost forces polluting leachate from the bedewed discarded heavy into the groundwater, ruining it for aboriginal generations for decades,” she said.

“I person shifted my absorption distant from trying to betterment Bangalore, arsenic it seems resistant to constructive advice, and americium present concentrating connected different pressing issues. These see wastewater treatment, desilting of lakes, supplying silt and compost to farmlands, and reducing phosphates successful detergents. There are galore different important matters to address.”