Garbage dumped at Kalpalli crematorium in Bengaluru

The garbage trucks sport a banner of Seva Sankalp Abhiyan, a month-long campaign launched in September. Residents allege that each vehicle has a picture of S. Raghu, C.V. Raman Nagar BJP MLA, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Published - October 28, 2026 06:00 am IST - Bengaluru

S. Raghu, C.V. Raman Nagar BJP MLA, says people may have misused his name, and that he would be the “last person” to be involved in such dumping. | Photo Credit: ALLEN EGENUSE J.

Several garbage trucks have been dumping dry and wet waste at Kalpalli crematorium for nearly three months now, alleged families living on the premises and around it. These trucks bear the banner of Seva Sankalp Abhiyan, a campaign to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 25 years in power, residents claimed. However, S. Raghu, C.V. Raman Nagar BJP MLA, denied that garbage is being dumped there.

The crematorium is home to 17 families from the Kalpalli burial ground and two from the electric crematorium. Many live in makeshift shelters on the premises, including those who work as grave diggers. The waste is dumped around their homes, near the crematorium’s registrar’s office and on the crematorium premises, they say.

These trucks sport a banner of Seva Sankalp Abhiyan, a month-long campaign launched in September. Each vehicle has a picture of Mr. Raghu and Mr. Modi, residents alleged.

However, Mr. Raghu dismissed the claims, saying that only wood from felled trees and leaves are taken to the crematorium to make manure, and no other waste is dumped there. He said people may have misused his name. He said he would be the “last person” to be involved in such dumping and that he had instead been asking everyone to cooperate and dispose of garbage responsibly.

The waste includes sanitary waste and wood cuttings, along with dry and wet garbage, residents allege. | Photo Credit: ALLEN EGENUSE J.

Residents said that from 7 a.m. until late in the evening, sometimes until 7 p.m., at least two garbage trucks arrive every hour. The waste includes sanitary waste and wood cuttings, along with dry and wet garbage, they alleged.

Residents stated that the stench reaches their homes, making it difficult to live there. “We have shown them that children and senior citizens live here. People are cooking beside the waste, living and sleeping there. But when we try to stop the trucks, the people who come to dump the garbage threaten that they will take away our jobs,” a resident said.

“The dumping has also upset families who visit the burial ground to pay their respects to deceased relatives on anniversaries and other occasions,“ residents lamented, pointing out that garbage is being dumped on and around graves, leaving families to see piles of waste as the first thing when they visit.

A resident of the crematorium said the dumping had left them helpless. “Some families have accused us at the electric crematorium of taking money to allow people to dump garbage here. It is our duty to maintain cleanliness, but we do not know why this is being done to us. Garbage is being dumped even around our homes,” he said.

Published - October 28, 2026 06:00 am IST

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