Disrupting the flow of traffic

Messy Affair

The solid-waste management programme that was initiated by the BBMP last year has seen its share of stumbling blocks. Once the initial enthusiasm for segregation faded, citizens began to complain of the lax attitude of the pourakarmikas and the fact that their segregated trash was being re-mixed in the garbage trucks.

The latest issue that residents of different parts of the City have been raising is that the garbage trucks, which collect trash from specific points in each neighbourhood, are causing no end of inconvenience to them. In areas like Koramangala and Vivek Nagar, the trucks arrive at around 9.30 am, when traffic is at its peak. Because loading these trucks takes a while, the driver leaves the vehicle parked on the side — or in some cases, in the middle — of the road, adding to traffic snarls.

According to statistics available on the BBMP website, there are around 600 MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) transport vehicles, which include tipper lorries, dumper placers and mechanical sweepers. These pick up the trash from ‘secondary locations’ — that is, common points one step ahead of the door-to-door collection — and take them to the treatment sites or processing plants. “Which is all well and good,” says Kamla, a resident of Koramangala. “But irresponsible behaviour on behalf of the drivers of these trucks as well as the pourakarmikas make the entire process a huge inconvenience for those who stay nearby.

One of the trucks comes to a halt a mere 20 feet from my home every morning. Sometimes, it parks on the side of the road but more often than not, the driver pulls up beside the divider and cars are forced to drive around it. The pourakarmikas set to work, loading the trash from their carts onto the truck. But not surprisingly, this is a lengthy process and for the half-hour or so that the truck is parked there, it causes chaos on the road,” she adds.

P L N Murthy, a taekwondo instructor who lives in Girinagar, near Basavanagudi, feels that this problem can be circumvented by tweaking the timings of the collection a little. “The truck normally comes to our area between 8 am and 9 am every day, which is when the roads experience peak traffic thanks to office and school-goers. I pass it nearly everyday — I think it would make sense if the truck came a little earlier, say around 7 am. Since the roads are nearly empty at that time, the truck wouldn’t disrupt the flow of traffic,” he reasons. All this would require, he adds, is for people to put out their trash a little earlier and the pourakarmikas to advance their schedule by an hour or so.

Another way to curb the inconvenience caused by these collection trucks is by identifying better secondary locations. In each neighbourhood, the pourakarmikas bring the trash from each home to a common collection point, where it is loaded into the trucks.

Aditya, a student who lives in Malleswaram, believes it would be better to select areas which experience less traffic flow and are at a distance from the main road.

“Disruption to traffic is the main problem caused by these trucks. If less-crowded areas are identified and the trucks loaded there, it would make a difference,” he suggests.