Garbage, garbage everywhere

Garbage, garbage everywhere

Deepika Arwind
BBMP earns public ire for inaction on a serious civic problem
— Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

Apathy: Uncleared garbage at HAL 3rd Stage.
BANGALORE: In the sprawling Assembly Constituency of C.V. Raman Nagar, once the greenest and cleanest in the city, residents find it ironical that they now grapple with the problems of garbage collection. “There are houses worth crores of rupees here. But right around the compound wall is a heap of garbage,” says N. Rangaraj, president, B.M. Kaval Residents’ Welfare Association (RWA).

Those in bungalows can escape garbage once they are inside their homes. What about a situation when garbage lands in your living room? The slums and villages that have slowly become part of the “real estate map” perhaps have it the worst.

Jogita from Bhuvaneshwari Nagar (Ward 57) says that garbage from the houses around her finds its way into her slum. “There is no proper collection system here. And almost always, the garbage is thrown around — and sometimes into — our shanties,” she says.

No one listens
The situation is not very much different in Malleshpalya and Kaggadasapura. While the RWAs say that the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) collects garbage erratically, those in slums say they don’t even have a medium through which they can express their problems. In a small slum in Kodihalli (Ward 88), residents complain of lack of sensitivity on the part of the BBMP as well as those who live around them. “Many of our children have fallen sick because of mosquitoes and dirty water, a consequence of the residents disposing of their waste outside our houses,” says Shiva, a resident of the slum.

Calling the shots
Members of RWAs complain that collection points often turn into garbage dumps. A resident of HAL III Stage (Ward 58) says that his biggest grouse against the BBMP is that “it has allowed the garbage contractors to dictate terms”.

“The contractors do not hire enough pourakarmikas, and as a result our roads are unclean for days,” he adds.

S. Niranjan, a resident of 80-Foot Road in Indiranagar, says despite appeals to the BBMP to clean public parks in the area, there has been no action. “We end up hiring our own cleaners and pay for a service that is our right,” he adds.