Garbage disposal: Residents’ apathy mar beauty of city

It appears that a section of the citizens are not bothered to cooperate with the civic body in maintaining the beauty of the city, despite several rounds of awareness and educative campaign on the proper disposal of waste.

Even though door to door collection of waste is a regular process across the city, a few citizens dispose waste at open spaces and by the streets, marring the beauty of the ‘Clean City’. The menace exists in all parts of the city and the civic workers are finding it difficult to maintain cleanliness.

A civic worker, who collects waste at Vijayanagar Second Stage, said, “We visit the area every day and collect waste from every house. But, a few residents are reluctant to hand over the waste. They dump it at open spaces.”

“Apart from visiting the houses, what else we can do? Is it possible to knock on every door. The residents must understand the problems of the pourakarmikas and should cooperate with us,” he said.

The workers claim that the situation is not different in other parts of the city. The menace exists on Hunsur Road, near Premier Studio, Jayalakshmipuram, Paduvarahalli and other areas.

Savithri, a resident of Vijayanagar, said that a few people dump waste next to her house, but, she could not identify them. “The civic workers visit the area every day to collect waste. But, the garbage dumped on open spaces remain as it is. Besides the civic workers, the people must be cautious and extend support to the civic body. Unless there is people’s support, the civic body can achieve nothing,” she said.

The officials claim that the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has deputed civic workers to collect waste from every household in all the 65 wards, but, in some cases, the residents are reluctant to hand over the garbage to the workers when they visit the area.

According to MCC officials, a section of the residents are still not bothered to cooperate with the civic body, despite several rounds of awareness drives and educative programmes. “We have instructed the civic workers to bring the issue to the notice of the officials, if they come across such citizens. The MCC will definitely act tough against such persons,” the officials said.

However, the officials claim that the menace has drastically declined compared to the last few years.