Garbage forces Avenue Road traders to cut prices

Business badly affected on City's famed marketplace but BBMP unmoved

Business rivalry is not behind the price war among traders on Avenue Road, a prime business location of the age-old Chickpet market.

At the core of this price reduction is the severe garbage problem. Businessmen have substantially slashed commodity prices to attract customers who shy away from the area which used to be their choicest place to purchase a variety of products ranging from stationery to utensils, books, clothes, jewellery, fruits, snacks and sweets. Heaps of waste lying everywhere on Avenue Road has turned the half-a-kilometre-long stretch into a mini landfill site.

Ironically, this road was identified to be developed as a ‘Model Street’ by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). This is just a glimpse of the alarming garbage problem lurking in Bengaluru. Traders in Avenue Road liken the situation to 2012 when the City was in the throes of a garbage crisis.

Umesh K V, the proprietor of Sri Krupa Silks on Avenue Road, said garbage clearance had almost stopped. “Filth lies all over the area and is lifted once in three days. We keep requesting Palike officials to clear garbage at least twice a day but no one heeds our plea. Our businesses are affected,” he said. A huge heap of waste is seen near a shrine, a few metres away from Sri Krupa Silks.

KR Market, Mamoolpet, Sultanpet, Upparpet and the surrounding areas have been stinking to the high heavens for the last six months. The neighbouring Chamarajpet too has its own garbage woes to narrate. In fact, the garbage problem is not restricted to just Avenue Road. It is spread all over the City in Banashankari, Shivajinagar, Bommanahalli, Yaarab Nagar, Sarakki, JP Nagar, Gowdanapalya, Yelchenahalli, Mahadevapura and more. On the other hand, BBMP officials dispute that there is a crisis about Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). But ground realities speak otherwise. Garbage collection points have turned into landfill sites of sorts as lifting waste from them to the processing units is hampered.

While BBMP officials are tight-lipped about the actual problem, it has emerged that the Palike has been witnessing protests on a regular basis at Bingipura for the last one month. A similar situation had prevailed at the Terra Firma landfill site on Doddaballapur Road about two weeks ago.