Rampant construction activity, development work and a rise in the number of vehicles on the city’s roads have had a telling impact: dust.
Road dust, fine sand-like material, has started accumulating along major roads, such as Ballari Road, Infantry Road, Graphite India Main Road, Mathikere Main Road, and medians. In many places, the accumulated dust is not cleared for days on end, posing a hazard to motorists, especially those on two-wheelers.
Krishne Gowda, a resident of Dasarahalli, said that nearly one lane gets covered with dust. “Over the past several weeks, I have seen dust on the flyover leading to Mathikere Main Road. In some cases, waste and dust collected by pourakarmikas are stored in sacks and kept on the median. With the movement of vehicles, these sacks fall down, scattering dust again on the road,” he said.
Clement Jayakumar from Doddanekundi Rising recently took to Twitter to highlight the issue. He alleged that for nearly two months, dust has been accumulating on Graphite India Main Road, a two-km stretch between Kundalahalli Gate and Graphite India Junction.
Though the issue was raised with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), civic officials from various departments were passing the buck, claiming that keeping the roads free of dust is not their responsibility.
“There is no clarity within the BBMP on who is responsible to clear the road dust, whether it is the solid waste management department, the road infrastructure department (responsible for all arterial and sub-arterial roads) or the ward engineering department (responsible for other roads),” said Mr. Jayakumar. He added that though the BBMP has started using mechanical sweepers, they were being deployed only on certain roads.
Admitting to lack of clarity on which department is to clear the road dust, BBMP's Special Commissioner (Solid Waste Management) D. Randeep said the civic body’s eight mechanical sweepers are currently deployed to sweep major roads in all eight zones. “On roads where dust accumulation is high, manual lifting may be required,” he said. He conceded that there is need for better coordination among the different departments within the civic body on the issue.
More mechanical sweepers to be deployed
The BBMP is all set to deploy the 17 mechanical sweepers that it has procured recently to clean major and arterial roads. At present, eight mechanical sweepers are used in the eight zones.
Senior civic officials said with funds from the Nagarothana Scheme, the BBMP had procured the additional 17 machines, each at a cost of ₹1.35 crore. The work order for the same was issued just days ahead of the announcement of the Lok Sabha polls.
According to sources in the BBMP, a report — which had been prepared on roads where these mechanical sweepers have to be deployed — also suggested that these machines be handed over to the Chief Engineer, Department of Road Infrastructure, as arterial roads come under that department.
The report had also restricted the distance to be covered by these mechanical sweepers to 50 km per day. “These machines need to move at a particular speed. Hence, the distance that they can cover is obviously limited,” said a senior civic official.
The mechanical sweepers will be deployed in phases and only between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. when vehicular movement on major roads is minimal. The first phase will see six of the new machines in use.
The BBMP is looking to hire an additional 17 mechanical sweepers from contractors. A short term tender for the same had been floated last year.
“The financial bid is before the BBMP council, pending approval. As the election code of conduct is in place, it will have to wait until the Lok Sabha poll process is complete,” said officials.
