Pee and Park

Pee and Park
By: Firoz Totanawala Date: 2009-02-06
discuss news article
print news article
email news article
share news article
Bangalore:

Shoppers and goons turn the basement of Bangalore's busiest heritage market into a toilet

The car park at Bangalore's busiest wholesale market is also a popular toilet.

K R Market, more popular as City Market, attracts thousands every day. People from all over Bangalore go there to buy vegetables and groceries cheap.

A number of citizens visit the basement to answer nature's call.

The BBMP demolished the old heritage structure, built by the Mysore maharaja, to make way for the present complex, completed.

Stink pad

The BBMP has appointed a parking contractor, but he hasn't been able to do a thing about the menace.

Patel, the parking fee collector, has a tough time doing his job. "People demand a cleaner parking area. They shout at us for charging a fee for such a disgusting place," he told MiD DAY.

Local toughs, on the other hand, regularly use the car park as a loo. "When we try to stop them, they beat us up," Patel said.

The contractor has complained several times to the BBMP, but nothing moves.

Dump yard

To add to the mess, the City Market police have been abandoning accident vehicles in the basement.

You can now see a huge pile-up of rusting vehicles, all dumped over the past decade.

The BBMP isn't above blame. It throws garbage here.

When it rains, the basement fills up with water. "We can't stay here even for 10 minutes. The garbage, the human waste, and the gutter water make this place hell," Ramesh, who works in the vicinity, said.

Poor lighting is another problem. Most bulbs are stolen. The parking contractor's licence expires today.

"I have travelled from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, but never have I seen a parking lot like this," said Ravi Kumar, who parks his motorbike in the basement every day.

'It's disgusting'

Shabbir Rangwala, owner of a paint shop
"This market of Bangalore is very old and deserves to be a heritage place. In fact, most people look forward to visiting this place. But, unfortunately, instead of developing it into a must-see place, BBMP has made it a must-avoid place,"

P Mukesh, President of Karnataka Hardware & Allied Merchants' Association
"BBMP takes money and issues license to the contractor to collect parking fees and the contractor does so. Therefore, it is the liability of both the parties to maintain the area and ensure safety and hygiene. But, the place is left in a pathetic condition,"

Subhash and Zubair from WinWire Technologies
"Once while we were looking for a parking place, the cops guided us to the basement area. It was all filth and stinking. We could hardly tolerate and wondered how people could park their vehicles here."