City station is garbage central

City station is garbage central
Waste Hasn’t Been Cleared For A Month; Authorities Say All’s Well
Aarthi R | TNN

Bangalore: “Don't litter,” screams a message on the wall at the City railway station’s entrance. A few yards further, heaps of garbage are piled up on either side of the tracks, as well as the passage near the tourist information centre.
Crushed cups, uncleared garbage and stagnant, open drains alongside tracks welcome visitors at this gateway to the city. Swarming flies and mosquitoes practically outnumber travellers. This has been the scene for the past one month at platform No. 1.
Adventurers who leaped across tracks to reach other platforms now think twice. It’s not the fear of getting run over, but drainwater overflowing on to the tracks at some points that keeps them in check.
The army of cleaners deployed at the station has thrown its hands up. “We used to get more than Rs 4,000 per month, but this has come down to just Rs 2,000. The contractors keep changing. Most of us don’t work as there’s no use cleaning platforms till garbage is cleared,” says a cleaner who’s been working at the station for 12 years.
What is the problem? The garbage collected on the station premises is not disposed of as there is a problem with the contractor. Consequently, the station’s waste is dumped on either side of the tracks and vacant places. Garbage has been piling up for the past one month and today, the station resembles a landfill.
M Ramesh, a contractor who was in charge of garbage disposal and coach cleaning, said this has been the case ever since his threeyear contract ended in June. “Irregular payments put me off doing any more work here. As per the contract, I was to get Rs 3.35 lakh every month, but I’ve faced continuous harassment throughout the contract period and haven’t received even 60% of my pay. So I didn’t apply for the new contract,” he said.
What has angered contractors who were with the railways for long is that the main tenders were awarded to outsiders at rates double or triple the previous tenders. “Even coach cleaning, which was earlier done at Rs 70 per coach, has now been increased to Rs 147. Where is the cost of mechanism when there are no machines at all?” Ramesh asks. While he employed 120 labourers, he claims the present contractor has only 30.
Public complaints, protests by staff, coolies and even cleaners have fallen on deaf ears. “The parking lot has become a dumping ground. We’ve been telling the authorities about this but our voice has had no value. So, we choose to ignore the stench and get on with our work,” says a staffer at the parking lot.
But railway authorities do not seem to find this a problem. “Awarding contracts is an ongoing process and the situation is well under control,’’ says Anwar Hussain, railway senior divisional commercial manager.