B'lore: BBMP sweeps off garbage, stink lingers

Bangalore: Even though the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) managed to clear garbage from many areas on Sunday, tonnes of garbage remained spewed across some of the main markets. The garbage disposal comes in the wake of Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy’s promise on Friday to clear the garbage within 72 hours. The City Market, Yeshwantpur Market, Gandhi Bazaar Market, Russell Market, Madiwala and Marathahalli Markets had very little garbage collection. Although these markets have thousands of footfalls a day, the BBMP had made little efforts to clear garbage in these areas. Shivajinagar and Malleswaram Markets were cleared in the wee hours of Sunday.

“The stench is unbearable. Shopping here is next to impossible,” said Uday, a customer at Marathalli Market. Meanwhile, Priya another customer at K R Market opined, “It will become difficult for the BBMP to differentiate between garbage and hawkers in this area, if the Palike doesn’t clear it soon. The rain water is stagnating in the garbage dump under the flyover causing more problems.”

Garbage trucks were spotted across various commercial and residential areas on Sunday. It is said that they made three trips to Mandur landfill site. Comprising of environment engineers, health inspectors and pourakarmikas, a few teams stationed at Mandur landfill site to gain the confidence of the villagers, who had protested against the dumping of garbage.

The BBMP Standing Committee Chairman for Health S Venkatesh Babu claimed that 90 per cent of the garbage had been cleared. “We have decided to set up segregation units at all 198 wards in the city. The joint commissioners of all the eight zones of Palike have been asked to identify a place for segregation units in their respective areas in the next three or four months,” Babu said.

In the next 24 hours, the BBMP plans to send a mobile van with doctors and a nurse to Mandur to gauge the situation and reassure villages. They are also going to continue supplying Cauvery water to Mandur through water tankers. The Palike aims to clear garbage at interior areas by Monday midnight and fulfil their promises.