The protest by villagers against dumping of garbage at landfills is allegedly being fuelled by realtors at Mavallipura and Mandur who own huge tracts of lands for developing layouts. At present, 5,000 tons of garbage generated in the city is being dumped at three landfills — Mavallipura, Mandur and Terra Firma. Till recently, the farmers had not been vociferous in their protest against dumping of garbage at the landfills. Fearing a crash in price for the lands located adjacent to the dumping yard, realtors are allegedly fuelling the protests by sending their people.
The GMR group owns a huge tract of land about 2 km from Mavallipura. Since the mounds of garbage at Mavallipura has contaminated the ground water table and is emanating stench, leading to fears of health hazards, the promoters are supporting the protests, say garbage contractors. At Mandur too, an influential person owns a big chunk of land which is being developed into a residential layout. The prices of land at Mavallipura too have dipped due to the location of landfill and the builder started egging the villagers to protest against the BBMP, said the contractors. As a result, dumping of garbage at Mandur was stopped for four days.