Is garden city turning out to be the city of litter?

Is garden city turning out to be the city of litter?
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The average citizen in Bangalore should really understand that he has a binding obligation to keep his city clean. He should chuck the habit of throwing plastic bottles and unfinished takeaways by the roadside. They should see that their garbage is stored in black plastic bags and later ensure that the garbage collector takes the dump away regularly.

However, the problem is that indiscriminate dumping is turning the garden city in to a city of dump. With roads littered up with decaying filth and clogged drains over flowing with waste water, the situation is not something that does the ‘silicon valley’ proud.

The Bangalore City Corporation (BCC), though late, has woken up to the situation. But, only as a result of a Supreme Court order. The Civic body had eliminated garbage bins and has embraced door to door collection of garbage. The garbage collectors bell can be heard in every street in the morning. But, BCC is yet to have an operational dumping ground. This means that cosmetic changes are limited only to the city, meanwhile, the outskirts become the dump yards.

BCC Deputy Commissioner Health V. P. Ikkeri said that the civic body would soon make over 200 acres of scientific land fill operational.

‘‘The engineering preparations of 100 acres at Mavallipura is almost complete and would be operational by this month end. Another 100 acres of Mandur village have been identified and environmental impact studies have been completed,’’ he said.

Ikkeri said that to avoid danger to the ‘sweepers’ midnight road cleaning as been implemented.

However, many BCC workers can be seen even in the day time cleaning the busy roads amidst running traffic.

‘‘To rid our staff from cleaning the streets in the morning, we need to create awareness within the general public. We cannot just put in litter bins all around the suburbs, since the people have not cultivated the habit of using these resources. The anti-litter law which is pending in the government would also be successful only if the people respect it,’’ Ikkeri said.

Talking to a few people in the city, the weakest link in solid waste management process seems to be the segregation of garbage at the household.

Sumitra, a housewife in the Indiranagar region said that garbage collectors were not very regular.

‘‘Sometimes garbage is left at the gate and we presume that it has been taken away by the BCC. The shocking part occurs when you come out to the gate and watch your garbage cover being torn apart by a dog. There is a lot of stench in front of the house and I have to wash it all again,’’ she said.

When asked if she seggregated garbage in the house, she said that she dumped everything in to one cover.

‘‘I do not segregate solid waste such as bones and plastic. I dump everything in one cover. It is better to be sensitised and we have not been told by any one that waste management was so important,’’ she said.