Nagarthpete’s garbage woes overflow

Bengaluru: “Just like actor Aamir Khan's wife, my wife too thinks we should leave the city. While Aamir thinks the country has become intolerant, my wife says the garbage in Nagarthpete is intolerable. Now, I am forced to accept her viewpoint!” laughs Ramesh Kumar, an entrepreneur in Chickpet.

Kumar and his family have been residents of Nagarthpete for the past three decades and he says that though the garbage problem has been perennial in the locality, but of late it is badly affecting them.

“Garbage from Cubbonpet, Cottonpet and surrounding areas get dumped in our locality. And following the recent rains, garbage flows on to the road. Not only have black spots increased and so have the mosquitoes. It’s impossible to stay either indoors and outdoors,” he lamented.

According to the locals, the BBMP had not cleared the garbage for the past 20 days, and late on Saturday night, it picked up garbage from all the streets and loaded in trucks. Even before the residents could feel relieved, around 10 am, the BBMP contractor stationed three garbage-laden trucks on S.P. Road.

Murali, an entrepreneur, said, “It was impossible to sit in the office due to the stench. Earlier, it used to be confined to some streets, but now the entire S.P Road up to BBMP head office stinks. We are worried about the health hazards since we breathe this air from morning till late night.”

Bengaluru Electronic Goods Dealers’ Association general secretary Alpesh Shah said the association is spending nearly Rs 50,000 every month and has appointed five workers to sweep S.P. Road and despite their efforts, the BBMP has failed to clean the roads in S.P. Road, Nagarthpete and surrounding areas.

“We launched a campaign earlier this month to create awareness and promote the message of clean neighbourhood. But we think the campaign is not able to achieve anything due to the poor response of BBMP officials. Also, the sweepers appointed by the association segregate garbage and dump it at designated spots. Nearly 75 per cent of the garbage generated in our locality is taken care of. Yet, the BBMP is not able the address the issue,” Shah rued.

There were protests at Doddaballapur plant and garbage was not being accepted. Soon after, the garbage processing plants stopped receiving mixed waste. Hence, we had to leave the garbage on streets. However, we have cleared 24 loads of garbage in two nights and are in the process of clearing the backlog.

We could not send all the garbage trucks to the plants at once and we are sending as many trucks as possible per day. The situation will improve in the next few days.

The quantum of garbage generated in my ward is comparatively high and we do not have the capacity to treat all the garbage. We are planning to send a proposal to the government seeking a waste processing plant with higher capacity. Hope we will find a permanent solution soon.