While it is bad enough that citizens furtively dump garbage on the road side, what does one do when Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) staff do it?
This seems to be the case at the various collection points across the city. On paper, these are points where smaller vehicles – hand-drawn wagons and autorickshaws – involved in door-to-door collection transfer waste to larger trucks that transport them to landfills and segregation centres. However, in reality, these points have become places where smaller vehicles unload all their waste, which is then collected sporadically by trucks.
Take for instance the collection point between Vivekananda Circle and Sita Circle on Girinagar Main Road, which has become an eye sore. Residents say garbage from the surrounding areas of Muneswara Block and Girinagar is dumped there. “It has become an open segregation centre. For hours, the garbage lies there. Even if cleared, the smell and leachate remain. The footpath is used by residents and even school children,” said Afroz Begum, a resident.
Similarly, near the Chikkasandra entrance of Padmanabhanagar, civic workers dump garbage from neighbouring layouts by the 18 Main Road. Mrinal, a resident, reports that the garbage is cleared once in three days. “I don’t know why they chose this spot. It is a main road and a key junction. There are three bus stops nearby and commuters often use this path while changing buses. There is another unloading point barely 200 metres away,” he said.
At 14 Cross in J.P. Nagar I Phase, residents say garbage dumped by sweepers is not cleared for days; mosquitoes thrive on the leachate. The corners of HMT Grounds at R.T. Nagar, which is used as a playground by students of at least three schools, has become a transit point for garbage.
Possible solutions: ‘Get more trucks to lift garbage’If the need for secondary collection points arises, the BBMP must exercise caution while choosing the location, believe experts. Currently, any large space is chosen, irrespective of the number of people who reside nearby or who uses it. Instead, isolated spots or those far off from main roads should be chosen.
Moreover, large bins should be provided at these spots to ensure waste can be stored hygienically and removed mechanically.
The BBMP must ensure adequate number of large trucks and compactors to ensure that collection points do not become black spots, observed the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) in a recent report. During an inspection, KSPCB had found that large trucks were often not available to clear garbage from collection points.
Further, KSPCB proposes a ‘No garbage on ground’ policy.
Expert quoteKathyayini Chamaraj, Executive Trustee of CIVIC, is not favour of dumping in the open. “Garbage should be stored in colour-coded bins at these secondary points. Compactors can mechanically lift them. Currently, it is removed manually from the ground, which is unsafe for the worker as well as the surrounding areas.”
People Speak“Garbage is disposed near Government Channasandra School on Uttarahalli-Kengeri Road... right in front of children and on the ground where they usually play,” says Shahnawaz S., resident, Channasandra.
“I do not understand why the Guttahalli Main Road is being used as a dumpsite by BBMP. There is a maternity hospital nearby, while hundreds of school children and office-goers use the road to reach Ballari Main Road. The rainwater drain is blocked because of the garbage and the leachate smell is unbearable,” says Murugesh, resident, Malleswaram.
Reader’s Mail
Netaji ground in Sane Goravena Halli in Basaveshwaranagar is gradually being eaten by a garbage collection point. For more than a year, large amounts of garbage are dumped here — Hitesh Rathod
At Bank Colony near Srinivasanagar on ORR, on some open grounds and public places, civic agencies dump garbage, waste in un-scientific ways and destroy the ambiance of the area — Gundappa Srinivas
