Citizens seek Centre's intervention to rid City of garbage menace

Reflecting on public anger against poor solid waste management in City and the local administration’s inefficiency to tackle the problem, citizens have switched to national arena drawing the Centre’s attention towards the plaguing garbage issue.

A visit to the National Consumer Complaint Forum (NCCF) website reveals public vexation against the filth accumulating in the City. The website is flooded with complaints about poor waste collection by garbage collectors in the City.

Some complaints even relate to the rude behaviour of garbage collectors. Citizens posting on garbage problem at the National Consumer Complaint Forum website is not new but what is quite surprising is that they had been posting since 2010, at least two years prior to the garbage problem raising its ugly head in 2012.

The Palike’s failure had forced people to repose faith in alternative fora and NCCF came quite handy. However, their hopes were dashed when the NCCF too could not offer any solution to the people as the garbage problem persisted.

Take the case of Jagadish, a resident of Krishna Residency in Uttarahalli.

He had complained on June 11, 2010, against the non-lifting of waste from his locality even though he paid Rs 200 to the garbage collector. When his repeated complaints to the BBMP officials and formal writtens complaints at the BBMP head office went unheard, he posted his grievances at the NCCF portal. However, he could not get any response there.

Stray dog menace

A similar case is of P Ravishanker, a resident of Amarjyothi Layout, who had complained at the NCCF portal on November 12, 2013.

He wrote, “Nobody is collecting the garbage in Amara Jyothi Layout, Domlur Ring Road Bangalore. They (BBMP) are totally erratic in their duty. The garbage is filled (dumped) in front of our houses.” He had even complained that the garbage problem has given rise to stray dog menace as they are feasting on the waste.

All these things happened even after paying the garbage collector every month. While Jagadish got small relief now for the past few months, Ravishanker is still confronting the garbage problem.

He said, “It has been over a month since we saw the pourakarmikas in our ward to lift garbage. We had complained to many people, including the local corporator, but to no avail.”

The portal gives a good insight into the garbage crisis. Most of the people had been complaining since 2010 that the garbage collectors did not cooperate and do not turn up quite often. They demand huge money from the apartment dwellers to perform their duty.
This additional expenditure is in addition to the sanitation charge and garbage cess paid every year to the Palike.

Residents fear an impending epidemic due to the poor garbage disposal. The situation has taken a serious turn with monsoon round the corner. The concoction of rain water with garbage may lead to many health hazards besides polluting the source of water.
Officials ignorant

Expressing his ignorance about the NCCF portal, a BBMP official, however, claimed that specific instructions had been given to medical officers of every wards to tackle the garbage problem as soon as they receive the complaints from the public.