Bengaluru: “Every time there’s a festival, we dread getting out of our house over the next few days. For, a mini-dumpyard comes up outside our home and it remains unattended at least for the next two weeks. On several occasions, we have gone out of the city only to avoid the stench, mosquitoes and the ugly sight,” says Rajesh Ramesh, a resident of JHBCS Layout in Bendre Nagar.
It is not just Ugadi, which was celebrated on Friday, but it is true of all festivals. Across the city, the quantum of garbage doubles the day after any major festival, and mounds of mango and banana leaves and flower waste rotting on the roadside trouble families like Rajesh’s.“When the stench becomes unbearable, some miscreants set the garbage heaps on fire, making it worse. We then suffer from breathing problems and also headaches,” he says.
Unattended festival waste is just one of the problems of JHBCS Layout, which has seen a fast-paced real estate growth in recent years. New shops, restaurants and convention centres have brought their own set of problems to the residents. Sandeep A. says,
“There are meat shops close to our house and we have seen workers from these shops getting the meat waste in buckets and dumping it on the road. Hoteliers also do the same. In our area, it’s easy to dump any waste and go unnoticed.”
Despite problems associated with growth and failing basic infrastructure, neither the area corporator nor BBMP officials have taken measures to address their complaints, rues Puneeth Reddy, another resident. “Come to think of it, garbage disposal and bad roads are the biggest problems in our area. But that is not it.
We also suffer from poor water supply. Though it is not an issue that is in of concern to BBMP, the Palike officials can at least look into problems that affect our daily lives. Do we need the BBMP at all, if it functions like it is non-existent,” Mr Reddy asks. The BBMP’s solution to garbage is to burn it and to the other problems, give false assurances, the residents allege.
will ensure garbage is removed in two days: L Sreenivas
DC speaks to Kumaraswamy Layout ward corporator L. Sreenivas
Excerpts.
Are you aware of garbage issues in JHBCS Layout? Why is garbage left on road?
Garbage-related problems are increasing by the day, because of ongoing protests near all the garbage processing plants in the city. It has gotten worse over the last few days and despite our best efforts, we are not able to shift garbage.
Residents in JHBCS Layout are facing garbage-related problems after every festival. Why have you still not found a solution?
Not just one layout or one ward, but the entire city is plagued by garbage woes after Ugadi. Some residents dump garbage in the night and it’s tough to keep an eye on them. We need to become more vigilant.
How do you plan to deal with it?
When I approach BBMP officials, they ask me, “Sir, show us the place to dump garbage and we will remove it from your ward immediately.” I don’t have an answer for that. There is a crisis in the city and we have to deal with it. I have decided to get the contractor to at least remove the garbage from the roadside and I will ensure it is all cleared in the next two days.
