JOIN USA garbage crisis is building up again, with pourakarmikas, contractors and lorry owners staying away from work on Monday.
Contractors are upset the BBMP, which has to pay about Rs 200 crore to the government by way of GST, is deducting 18% from their dues. They want total exemption from the tax.
Garbage clearance is outsourced to 198 contractors, one for each ward in the city. They in turn pay the pourakarmikas and lorry owners.
Citizens in many neighbourhoods, including Basavangudi, Indiranagar and Vijayanagar, said the BBMP had not collected garbage for three days.
Roads are strewn with rotting waste, with the intermittent showers adding to the mess.
The Ganesha festival has also contributed to the garbage piles: festive flowers and food leftovers also lie rotting.
Sangeetha,a home maker in C V Raman Nagar, said, “It is three days sincethe lorry came to pick up garbage.”
Dhanaraj, who owns a provision shop in Byappanahalli, said the wet waste attracts rodents, many of which enter homes looking for food.
Fathima, a homemaker in Indiranagar, said, “At night, packs of dogs roam the area looking for food. They attack pedestrians.”
K R Market is a sorry sight, with heaps of garbage at every step. Markets in Malleswaram, Yeshwantpur, Gandhi Bazaar, Dasarahalli, and Jayanagar are badly affected by the strike.
Shekar, president of Basavanagudi Residents Welfare Association, said pourakarmikas turned up to clear some of the waste that had piled up since Saturday, but much more needs to be done.