The many eateries that make Fraser Town a culinary destination have had a predictable fallout: garbage. While inefficient garbage collection and littering are problems across the city, the garbage from restaurants, randomly dumped on street corners, compounds the crisis in this area.
Despite several complaints to authorities, residents say that hotel workers in the area wait for nightfall to dump the waste on street corners. Naresh Chandra, who lives off Mosque Road, says: “Just look at the garbage. It is impossible for households to generate this kind of garbage, on this scale at least. Every time we complain, it stops for a few days, only to return.”
‘Caught in the act’
Vilasini, a resident of Robertson Road, says that she has often caught them in the act. But, her requests always fall on deaf ears, she says. “Even after repeatedly requesting them to not dispose of their garbage on the road, it continues. Strict action is not taken,” she laments.
Take for instance, an area designated by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for garbage collection. The entire zone is a rotting mound, ironically with a sign that asks citizens to keep the city clean. This civic amenity site is not cleared routinely. “The garbage vans that come to clear the day’s waste do not do a good job. They pick up the garbage from the top of the pile and leave the rest to rot,” says Chandra Shekar, a resident of Fraser Town.
C. Mukundan, vice-president of a resident’s welfare association, adds: “Local restaurants often dump garbage around transformers in the locality. It is big problem for residents, especially children.” Besides the health and hygiene crisis this creates, the mounds of rotting garbage also attract stray dogs. That the garbage is mostly from eateries only makes things worse, say residents.
Parvez Ahmad Piran, BBMP’s Joint Director (Animal Husbandry), concedes this point.
“Garbage dumps and slums are the habitat of dogs. If garbage is controlled and food is not freely available to dogs, the population of dogs in the locality will naturally reduce.”
Impact on health
Residents say that they do not want to let their children play outside as most streets have these corners, infested with flies and mosquitoes.
Mohammed Saleel, a tailor who lives opposite one such garbage dump on a private plot on Moore Road, says: “This particular space is actually a private plot and the BBMP does not clear the garbage from this spot regularly. Our children are exposed to this unhygienic environment, which attracts stray dogs and is also a breeding ground for rats.”
‘Cleared in bulk’
K.S. Krishnaswamy, Chief Engineer, BBMP East, says that garbage is temporarily dumped on such sites and cleared in bulk. He says that on an average, about 7 tonnes of garbage are generated by each ward in the city. “Of this, 30 per cent constitutes wet waste that is generated by commercial establishments.”
‘Soon, onus on hotels’
On regulating restaurants, he says that so far, restaurants and hotels have been disposing their waste through the BBMP. But soon, bulk generators such as hotels will have to dispose of their wet waste themselves.
This will put the onus on restaurants and it will be easier to hold them responsible. They will have to dispose wet waste daily by transporting garbage to biogas plants, farms and piggeries, he adds.
