SMELLY NUISANCE

SMELLY NUISANCE
Streets, playgrounds and vacant sites: garbage raises a stink throughout Bangalore West zone, and collection remains lackadaisical
Deepa Bhasthi | TNN

Bangalore: It’s there in the drains, outside drains, overflowing from bins, in vacant sites and thrown away with disdain by the sides of roads. Garbage, or solid waste if you prefer to call it that, abounds in parts of Bangalore West. Part of the zone, the more organized areas like Rajajinagar and Malleswaram, have few problems. But then again, in sharp contrast, there are several areas where the stench hits you before you even get to the layouts.
WASTED PLAYGROUNDS
Areas like Gangenahalli have a lot of parks but most double as garbage dumping zones also. Little Zakir and Allah Bakash are playing on the see-saw in one such playground. They point out the transformer that has been installed in a corner. There is also a dump, which they say attracts dogs and cows. There are many such open lots which have conveniently been turned into dumping lots.
Residents of Hebbal and nearby Anandnagar complain that garbage collection is not regular in most areas. A huge open drain in Anandnagar not only makes the stench unbearable, but also proves to be a huge health hazard.
GARBAGE COLLECTION AT ODD HOURS
Laggere residents are very upset, and have every reason to be so. N C Krishna, a garments factory worker, lives in L G Ramanna Layout in Laggere. The very entrance to their houses is filled with a terrible stench. All the roads in the layout are kaccha roads, but residents say they can live even with that. What bothers them the most is garbage. There is a huge dump right at the entrance of their layout. “There are many garment factory workers in this area. The garbage collection van does not come till 9-10 o’clock in the morning. Most workers leave early for work, so they throw it here and move on,” he lamented.
The main issue, residents say, is that garbage collection handcarts come at odd hours and leave residents with no choice but to dump rubbish by the wayside.
MARKET AREAS THE WORST
To see how pathetic the garbage situation can get, go to K R Market. A bus stand, a huge vegetable and fruit market, ongoing construction work on a pedestrian subway...if that is not enough, there are also vendors darting by, vehicles inching through the melee, cows, hand carts, the works!
COLLECTION ONCE A WEEK
Residents in areas like Bhoopsandra and inner roads of Hebbal complain that garbage is not collected regularly. Sourav Bandhopadhyay, a resident of Geddalahalli, said collection carts are very irregular in his area.
Some of the more organized areas like Rajajinagar, Vijayanagar and Malleswaram have fewer problems with their solid waste issue. Collection is regular and BBMP ensures that it is disposed of as well. But other areas, again akin to two parallel and opposite situations, listed garbage as their top problem.
TOMORROW: Water, health and sanitation
WEALTH FROM WASTE
The Malleswaram Swabhimana Initiative (MSI) started the ‘wealth from waste’ initiative over a year ago on the premise of segregation of waste at source itself for recycling. Dr Meenakshi Bharath of MSI said they now had three shops opened in association with BBMP. “Once a week, collection carts go to Seshadripuram, Malleswaram and a few other places. The solid waste is segregated at source; a kilo of paper fetches Rs 2 and a kilo of plastic Rs 3. Only wet waste goes out of our homes,” she says.
MSI is now trying to cajole BBMP to give a directive regarding segregation, a move, they say, will help in implementation. Residents need to pay about Re 1 for picking up garbage. MSI, with the intention of scaling up the initiative, also intends to rope in the armed forces into the segregation model for easy recycling. The initiative collected 12 tons of paper and 1.5 tons of plastic in December alone. “We want sorting stations in every ward,” says Bharath.
THE VELLORE MODEL
Wet waste, the kind which abounds in places like K R Market, takes several weeks to be recycled into usable manure. But the Vellore model, also promoted by the Malleswaram Swabhimana Initiative, expects to get manure within 48 hours. Dr Bharath said it involves feeding wet vegetable waste to cows which convert it into dung within 8-12 hours. The dung passes through as bio gas and earthworms convert it into manure,” she said. THE NEXT 10 WARDS
33 Manorayanapalya:
Bhuvaneshwarinagar, Chamundinagar, Dasappa Garden, Manorayanapalya (P), Kausernagar, HMT Layout, P&T Colony, Rahamatnagar, Anandppa Block
34 Gangenahalli: Ganganagar, Dena Bank Colony, Papanna Block, Gangenahalli Extension, Mathadhalli Layout
35 Aramane Nagara: M S Ramaiah Nagar, Indian Institute of Science campus, IAF quarters, Sankey Tank, Palace Grounds, Malleswaram (P), Ashwathnagar, AGS Officers’ Layout, ITI Layout, Sadashivnagar, RMV 2nd Stage, 1st Block
36 Mathikere: Sanjivappa Garden, Mathikere, Netajinagar, Mathikere Extension, Gokul Extension
37 Yeshwantpur:
Yeshwantpur, HMT Layout, Gurumurthy Layout, Kamala Nehru Extension, G K Colony, L N Colony, Dr Ambedkar Nagar
38 HMT: Jalahalli West, Air Force area, Ayyappa Nagar, Siddharth Nagar, HMT Quarters, Muneshwaranagar, Yeshwantpur Industrial Area, Platinum City, Netaji Nagar, Peenya Industrial Area II Phase, CMTI quarters, Civil Engineers quarters, Katha Nagar
42 Lakshmidevinagar:
Goragunte Palya, Subhash Chandra Bose Nagar, Lakshmidevinagar, Kempamma Layout, Kaverinagar, Nandini Layout I Stage, Narasimha Layout, Yeshwantpur Industrial Suburb (P), Jenakal Siddeshwara Nagar
43 Nandini Layout: Kanteerava Studio, Jayachamaraja Layout, AGB Layout, Saraswathipuram, Nandini Layout, Jai Maruthi Nagar, Maruthi Nagar, S N Layout, Sriramnagar, Gelayara Balaga Layout, Kuruburahalli, Panchadeepa Colony, Srinivasnagar, Jaibhuvaneshwarinagar, Kanteeravanagar, Prameelanagar
44 Marappana Palya:
Gouthampura, RMC Yard, Marappana Palya, Mysore Sandal Soap Factory, Ashokpuram, Shankaranagar, Corporation Bank Officers quarters, Krishnanandanagar, Yeshwantpur Industrial Suburb police quarters
45 Malleswaram:
Malleswaram (P), Yeshwantpur, Subedarpalya, Nanjappa Reddy Colony