Garbage crisis raises its ugly head as festival fever grips City

Much as the City corporation seeks to wish away the hydra of garbage hounding the Palike , it seems to rise again and again its ugly head like a Phoenix, despite civic authorities’ much hyped cleanliness drive being undertaken on a regular basis. 

Alarm bells have already begun sounding for Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike on the eve of the Sankranti festival with the City’s markets flush with perishable items like fruits, vegetables, sugarcane, and flowers. 

Further, traders, with the arrival of fresh stocks to attract customers, without much qualms, have been littering the road sides with the stale items. 

Much to BBMP’s chagrin , sugarcane, leaves, fruits and flowers are being disposed of at public places raising a stink all around. 

Lacking sufficient manpower and strained for resources to handle garbage on its own, BBMP officials have concentrated all their energies at Ground Zero — the KR Market, the main trading hotbed, while leaving the other markets to the mercy of contractors to whom it has outsourced the job.

As a result, it has left citizens fuming and fretting that BBMP has learnt no lessons whatsoever and its cleanliness drives are just publicity gimmicks to earn brownie points for the city fathers. 

According to BBMP Commissioner N Lakshminarayana, the biggest pressure point for BBMP is KR Market. “Our concentration is focussed  here. I have issued orders to deploy additional staff and vehicles for cleaning KR Market. This time we will not have much problem because every Monday a special cleaning drive is undertaken at KR Market,” he said. 

He said the Palike was sure that the garbage menace will not be as it was before. The contractor has to ensure that the areas are clean and they have been instructed well in advance.

However, citizens are not buying this argument. They observe that every year market areas and road sides become dumping yards with garbage lying for days and weeks unattended. 

The contractors and BBMP pourakarmikas do little to clear the mounds with cattle, street dogs and other animals feasting on the piled up garbage.