BENGALURU: Garbage has always been and continues to be a growing problem in the city. And for residents of Ranka Colony in Bilekahalli, garbage segregation has become a stinky affair, as the corporation uses an empty site on Ranka Road to carry out this work. Residents claim what the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is doing is illegal, as it is a residential area.
“Waste segregation by the BBMP has been going on for over a year now, and happens once in three months. Because there is an empty land there, they are taking advantage of it. The stink is unbearable. Even commuters use this as a dumping ground. In the evening, often, garbage is burnt,” says Suresh Prakash, vice president of the Ranka Colony Association for Apartments and member of Bangalore Apartments Federation (BAF).
“Every morning, around 10-15 vehicles segregate the waste. The slush remains on the road and plastic flies all around. There are about 12 apartments with 2,000 families living in the area. We cannot even go for a morning walk within the compound due to the stink. Now, pigs and stray dogs are seen near the dump. Also, garbage burning is done near gas cylinders, which could turn into a catastrophe,” says Shivanand Shetty, another member of the association.
Adding to their concerns is the open defecation going on here since the waste segregation started. “There will be men or taxi drivers using the area for defecation or urinating. We had called the Mayor and she agreed to visit the place. However, that got cancelled. That day, they had cleared the area well,” says Rajshree Khandige, secretary of the association.
Due to the lack of lighting in the area, residents also say the road has become dangerous for women and children to walk, with lorries parked at the Ambedkar Road junction near the dumping ground. “We cannot walk on the road. On one side, there are men urinating, while on the other, garbage is dumped,” says Rajshree.
When questioning the corporator and the contractor on the garbage issue, they say that they are looking for land to carry out their work, according to Rajshree. “The contractor asked me to find land for them to sort out the waste. They threaten us saying that they won't collect our waste,” she says. Corporator Narayan Raju was unavailable for comment.
BBMP Special Commissioner D Randeep (solid-waste management) says that this is a secondary segregating point. He admits, though, that the problem here has aggravated since the smaller vehicles are meant to transfer the waste to bigger ones. “No waste is supposed to touch the ground and only transfer of waste is allowed from smaller vehicles to the larger ones. Garbage burning is also not allowed. We have a lot of catching up to do in terms of solid-waste management in the outer zones,” he says.