As the Horticulture Department prepares to welcome a large number of guests for the Republic Day flower show at the Lalbagh Botanical Garden, garbage management remains a problem. The authorities are fighting a losing battle to prevent visitors from discarding waste across the garden’s expanse.
Residents who walk daily in Lalbagh say that garbage is also being dumped near the 'Peninsular Gneiss National Monument', the nearly 3,000-million-year-old rock formation, which was denied by the Horticulture Department.
“The rock is supposed to be a preserved site, but nothing is being done to safeguard it. Garbage and mud have been dumped in ditches and trenches around the rock. What’s worse is that garbage is being burnt regularly at the site,” said Purushottam Das, who has been walking in Lalbagh for over 30 years. “The rock is such a beautiful place to sit and relax at, and a lot of birds used to come there once. It is really sad that the natural beauty of the place is not being maintained,” he said
Other long-time regular walkers also rued the lack of maintenance within the premises, and point to the dearth of dustbins. “Lalbagh gets lot of tourists every day. Visitors end up throwing waste in whatever space they find,” Mr. Das said.
Uday Shankar, who walks in Lalbagh every day, said that sale of packaged food such as popcorns, chips, water bottles and juice inside the park is adding to the problem. “The Horticulture Department has been unable to control this menace,” he said.
The department had roped in volunteers from Hasiru Dala and Beautiful Bengaluru to help with the cleanliness campaign during the flower show last year. Seema Sharma, who was one of the volunteers last year, said, “Despite repeated requests, we saw people dumping waste in various parts of the garden. The only way of protecting the garden is banning all eatables inside the garden,” she said.
‘Don’t have picnics here’
The Horticulture Department has requested people not to have picnics in the garden. “There is no ban or order as such, but we are requesting people to help us keep the garden clean by not bringing outside food. We have been dealing with the problem of visitors throwing empty packets and leftovers randomly and irresponsibly in the garden. We have been running a cleanliness campaign during the flower shows, but now want to extend it to all days,” said M. Jagadeesh, joint director, Horticulture, parks and gardens.
He estimates that close to 4,000 people visit the garden every day. On holidays, the numbers goes up to 10,000. The park has 50 cleaners/maintenance staff.
