BENGALURU: Residents of Shri Venkateshwara Krupa Layout in Basaveshwara Nagar vented their frustrations over the civic problems they face on a daily basis during an interaction with Shankar Mutt ward corporator M Shivaraju on Sunday.
The problems of the residents ranged from poor maintenance of roads to the bad state of drainage and water lines. However, the issue that was topmost on their minds was inefficient garbage disposal.
Residents said the collection of garbage was highly erratic, with pourakarmikas coming only once in three-four days. They said this has led to sanitary problems in the area.
Speaking to Express, president of the Shri Venkateshwara Krupa Layout Residents’ Welfare Association C R Rajendra Gupta said that the garbage issue must be addressed immediately.
“Garbage collection is highly erratic. Sometimes, they (pourakarmikas) come once in two days, and this can get stretched to once in three-four days. Due to this, garbage is being dumped at every nook and corner. Mosquitoes and stray dogs are commonplace due to this,” he said.
M D Sreenivasan, a resident of the area, said that flooding is common-place whenever it rains. “The drainage pipes need to be upgraded. A year ago, the six-inch pipes were changed to nine-inch ones. However, this hasn’t sorted the issue. Flooding of roads during rains is a common issue. The accumulation of water leads to the breeding of mosquitoes. Just recently, my daughter was diagnosed with dengue. The roads here are in a very bad condition too,” he said.
MRA Swamy, another resident, spoke about how empty sites in the locality are being used for dumping of garbage. “In all, there are 112 sites in the layout, out which, four are vacant. These are being used by residents to dump garbage. The owners of these sites are not doing anything to maintain them,” he added.
Later, Shivaraju, while addressing the residents, admitted that the local body has had failures with respect to garbage disposal.
“Around 20 tonnes of garbage is generated from this locality every day. Also, there is only one seven-tonne compactor. I will ensure that the process of garbage collection and disposal is streamlined. Health and sanitary issues will be given prominence. My aim is to convert this ward into a model ward,” he said. Shivaraju also said that drainages in the ward will be improved.
“The process of issuing tenders in the BBMP is outdated and needs to change. Once this happens, all the development work will be expedited. The problem is that this area is a natural valley, but with few outlets for water to run off. This has led to flooding during rains.
“I will ensure that work on roads is taken up after the rains stop. It is better to wait for a few days to ensure that quality work is done, rather than doing a slip-shod job,” he added.