Russel Market is a mess

Operating on small margins, some of the vendors have spent their own money to hire private staff to clean the road.

If you thought that the garbage mounds on your street corner were unmanageable, take a walk down the crowded thoroughfares and alleys of Russel Market in Shivajinagar.

The roads are so filthy, people here are using thermocol boards and bricks to gingerly pick their way in and out of shops and buildings. Mixed with garbage, the water that flows on the roads after the first spell of rain in the evening is a vile mixture of all kinds of debris and effluents. And though merchants here cleared up some heaps of garbage Saturday morning, fresh ones have piled up.

Sayyed Aslam, who has been running a meat shop for 35 years here, said: “Let alone vehicles, even humans cannot walk on this path.”

Stinking water

Akbar Khan, a worker in a vegetable shop, fumed: “We have been enduring this for over a fortnight. The stinking water comes from the dumping space to the front door of our store. We have stopped waiting for the [BBMP] workers and have started cleaning by ourselves. But then, where do we take the garbage that is produced every day?”

Rotting mess

Operating on small margins, some of the vendors have spent their own money to hire private staff to clean the road. Sayeed Matheen, a vegetable merchant who has his shop right beside the dump yard on the left side of the Russel Market, said the stench is keeping customers away. “People are simply turning back when they see the rotting mess.”

Sajjad Ahmed, a mutton merchant, too said customers have been expressing concern over health and sanitation issues, given the surroundings.

A fish vendor said though a large portion of the garbage has been cleared after the stench became unbearable, he was unsure where it had been taken.