The first dry waste collection by Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), scheduled to be carried out on Saturday, was partially affected in the city as many staff were unable to report to work on account of the Karnataka bandh. Several residents, who had been storing their dry waste for a week and were hoping to dispose of it found themselves stuck with it.
A Basaveshwarnagar resident grumbled that the piled up waste was taking up a lot of space in her home. “But today, the auto drivers deployed by the BBMP, who pick up waste, did not come to collect either the wet or the dry waste. We hope that the authorities will collect it tomorrow at least.”
Apart from Basaveshwarnagar, residents from Nagarabavi, Magadi Road and Banashankari II Stage also said that waste collection did not take place in their areas on Saturday.
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Additional Commissioner (West) K. Chandrashekar said half the BBMP staff did not turn up for work because of the strike. “Therefore door-to-door waste collection was affected. We will collect the dry waste on Sunday,” he said.
However, a lorry driver who was collecting waste on Cunningham Road said most residents are yet to begin handing over segregated waste. “They still hand over mixed waste. Our higher authorities have asked us to be more strict in the coming days and asked us not accept mixed waste.”
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“We collect wet as well as dry waste on a daily basis as the residents are not willing to store dry waste for a week,” he added.
Market cleaned
Meanwhile, the bandh gave an opportunity to the BBMP officials to clean K.R. Market, notorious for piled up garbage. A press release said officials monitored the cleaning drive where 118 pourakarmikas collected 80 tonnes of garbage.
The officials also conducted awareness among vendors about the huge demand for green waste. An official said: “We have asked the vendors to carefully segregate dry and wet waste.”
A pourakarmika said: “This is the first time after many years that we have got free space to clean up the market. Otherwise it has never been possible to clean the entire market at one go.”