A walk down Cunningham Road is tiresome owing to the traffic, but a garbage dump within 100 metres of the Queens Road junction gives pedestrians a harder time. Many people who work at the eateries and shops in the vicinity maintain that the pile grow overnight. "As we are not there, we don't know who dumps it," said Rekha, who works at a jewellery showroom. Krishna and Vishu, two software engineers who frequent the stretch, said that though most pedestrians were unhappy with the situation, not many wanted to raise their voice. "As there aren't many residences here, people don't have a sense of ownership to complain," they said.
This was reflected in the response of the manager of a hotel nearby. "The stink and flies affect us, even though the dump is not directly opposite our eatery, but we can't complain - we aren't residents here," said Mehboob Ali. Cashier Imran Ali added that the hotel has received complaints even from customers. "We have AC inside, so it's not a problem. But those who come to pick up something from the juice and ice cream stall outside will have to bear with the smell." Mehboob further said that their hotel was questioned by both BBMP officials as well as the manager of another eatery. "Someone apparently found a sausage in the garbage pile, so they accused us of dumping it there. So I had to take the person to our kitchen and show them that while we serve chicken and mutton, we don't serve sausages."
A few people point fingers at the high-rise buildings here. However, S Ganeshan, the manger of one of the apartments said, "I too walk up and down past the garbage pile everyday. So I know the problem, but it doesn't come from our apartment."
M Gopi, the Corporator of Sampangirama Nagar (ward 110), under whom the area falls denied knowledge of the issue. "We have been having problems with the garbage contractor here for over two years. I have even given a letter to the health inspector about this. I will get this cleared at the earliest," he said.