Shame! All the City is a loo

Shame! All the City is a loo
Deccan Herald

The heat aggravates the stench of human urine and you feel nauseous while waiting for the bus to depart. You have little choice as there’s no getting away from the stink and the filth that surround the Vani Vilas Bus Stand at Kalasipalyam, one of the busiest in the City....

The heat aggravates the stench of human urine and you feel nauseous while waiting for the bus to depart. You have little choice as there’s no getting away from the stink and the filth that surround the Vani Vilas Bus Stand at Kalasipalyam, one of the busiest in the City.

The assault on the nostrils is overpowering but one has little choice considering it’s a major inter-city bus stand.

And that’s not all. Try visiting Bangalore’s two prime government hospitals — Victoria Hospital and Vani Vilas Children’s Hospital — and you will feel like throwing up because of the unhygienic surroundings.

For the tourists, it’s a nightmarish experience to visit the historical monuments in the area — Tipu’s fort and Tipu’s summer palace and the famous Venkatnarayana Swamy temple.

As is obvious, for most Indians, urinals are just a wall away.

The compound walls of Vani Vilas Hospital, Victoria Hospital and Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences, adjoining the bus stand, have been abused to such an extent that it is the stink of urine, and not the sanitised antiseptic smell, that greets patients.

When Deccan Herald visited the area, pay-and-use toilets Nirmala and Sulabh wore a deserted look, with the crowds preferring to let go on the road itself.

According to local hawkers, most of the culprits are either in a tearing hurry or are too poor to pay for using the toilet. One of the hawkers, Mohammed Arif, has erected a barricade with twigs on the pavement around his makeshift shop, to prevent people from urinating.

“The policemen understand my plight; they have not tried to remove my barricade,” Arif said. A few others placed some stone slabs, but people didn’t spare them also.

Another factor contributing to the mess is that Vani Vilas Hospital does not have public urinals within its premises.

The one constructed at the children’s hospital a few months ago is yet to open. Patients’ attendants are therefore forced to use the compound wall or the deserted corners of the hospital.

“It is shameful to see the degradation of such a historical place.

Continued on Page 9Continued from Page 1

“What impression will tourists have of Bangaloreans? While some areas in the City are being pampered, these areas are completely ignored by the authorities,” regretted 84-year-old retired government employee Basavaiah.

“We have brought this problem to the attention of the BMP. They started a drive two months ago and the situation has improved to an extent,” said Dr Gayatri, resident medical officer of Vani Vilas Hospital.