Burnt trash sends smoke signals

ON THE STREET WHERE YOU LIV Burnt trash sends smoke signals
SHRINIVASA M.
DC | BENGALURU


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Walk along the railway tracks running from Yeshwanthpur to Majestic, and you will need to hold your breath as fumes from burning garbage fill the air here. For people who live in these areas, the polluted air is more than a nuisance.
Many complain of respiratory problems and allergies, particularly in nearby Subramanyanagar, where the garbage dumped from homes finds its way onto the streets and then is burnt as the BBMP doesn't bother to collect it.

While the civic agency claims to spend huge sums of money on scientific disposal and segregation of waste, its workers burn the garbage, including the discarded plastic, tyres and other non-biodegradable material, letting off black smoke into the atmosphere and polluting it, complain the people of Subramanyanagar, Yeshwanthpur and Srirampuram, who have to put up with this every day.

Says Shanmuga Sundaram of Devaiah Park, “This is a daily problem. Every day BBMP workers burn plastics and other garbage at one or other spot, letting out dense smoke into the air and making it difficult for those who live nearby to even breathe normally. Although we have appealed to the BBMP several times it has done nothing to help us.” Sometimes the people of the slums also join in to burn the garbage as the BBMP does not collect the garbage which they throw on the streets.

“Slum dwellers have no other option but to burn their garbage as the BBMP does not bother to clear it.

So everyone burns whatever they throw out of their homes,” Mr Sundaram says.
According to him the railway tracks are a hazard for another reason too. In the absence of a subway, students from nearby schools and colleges use the tracks to get across, risking their lives. “We cannot do much to stop them. It is upto the BBMP to build a subway here,” he says. BBMP chief engineer (West) B. T.

Ramesh, when contacted, said he was unaware of the problems of the localities in question and promised to look into them .

If you face any problems on the street where you live that need to be highlighted in Deccan Chronicle, email editorblr@deccanmail.com. The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board should take action against Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for letting its workers burn garbage here. If BBMP was more systematic in collecting garbage from these areas, this would not have happened. Control Board should take action against Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for letting its workers burn garbage here. If BBMP was more systematic in collecting garbage from these areas, this would not have happened.
Prashant Kumar, student Burning of garbage has become very common in Malleswaram and surrounding areas.
A lot of people are falling sick as a result of the thick smoke. Many residents have even developed respiratory problems.
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike officials need to stop this practice before the situation worsens.