Over the past month, Sagai Mary and her husband Arpudam have been worried. The duo run the dry waste collection centre (DWCC) under the Jayadeva flyover. Their worries began after being told that their centre would be demolished soon.
The DWCC handles dry waste from three wards — Jayanagar East, Gurappanapalya and J.P. Nagar — and sees a daily collection of over two tonnes.
Mr. Arpudam said that ‘some official’ came to the centre around a month ago and informed that the flyover would be demolished. “We have another month to move out. It was like a bolt from the blue. We have now requested Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials to provide us alternate space for the DWCC,” he said.
Eight persons, including Mr. Arpudam and Ms. Mary, are employed at the centre.
Ms. Mary said it wasn’t a joyous Christmas, given that the family is unsure if it will be able to run the centre even if it is shifted elsewhere. “I was a waste picker earlier. After we started managing the centre, I thought that our lives had taken a turn for the better. We are dependent on this centre for our livelihood,” she rued.
The BBMP officials have reportedly short-listed a few spaces in J.P. Nagar, Gurappanapalya and Jayanagar East. “The BBMP officials said they will inform us when a decision has been taken. We have not heard from them so far,” added Mr. Arpudam.
The Jayadeva flyover will make way for the Namma Metro’s intersection station for R.V. Road to Bommasandra, and Gottigere to Nagawara lines, under Phase 2. The traffic police have given their clearance to demolish the flyover.
Sources in BMRCL said there is no plan to demolish the flyover till January. Apart from the intersection station, an elevated corridor from Ragigudda to Silk Board will also pass through the area.
Sarfaraz Khan, Joint Commissioner (Health), said that, ideally, DWCCs should not function below a flyover as it may cause traffic jams. He said that the BBMP had recently decided to allow DWCCs to function from rented premises. “There are as many as 20 wards where there is no space for DWCCs. There is no issue if the organisations are able to find spaces that can be rented out,” he said.
DWCC demolished
A perfectly good dry waste collection centre (DWCC) behind the Indira Canteen on K.R. Road was demolished last week. Now, the BBMP wants to develop another one at a different site, to make up for the loss of infrastructure.
The centre was initially meant for the V.V. Puram ward and built in a park in that ward, but was handed over to Sudhamanagar ward. Residents of V.V. Puram continued to demand a DWCC for their ward, but to no avail.
However, the DWCC fell into disuse.
“There was no proper segregation happening... some materials were just being dumped in the centre, which remained locked most of the time,” said a resident.
On Saturday, residents were shocked to see that the DWCC had been demolished.
BBMP officials informed the residents that a new DWCC, complete with power and water connection and a toilet, would be constructed.
“But why did the BBMP have to demolish an existing structure?” said a resident.
V.V. Puram councillor Vani V. Rao claimed that the DWCC had to be demolished as it was inside a park. “It was not even being used for our ward. We will seek land to construct a new DWCC for V.V. Puram,” she said.
