BENGALURU: The extra garbage generated from households and markets on account of Dasara festivities has led to garbage mounds being formed across the city. Around markets, the situation is expected to worsen on Saturday. The city sees a very high consumption of puja items such as ash gourds, plantain leaves and flowers during Dasara, which adds on to the waste generated. On Friday, garbage mounds were seen in KR Market, Banashankari, and wherever door-to-door collection of waste was not done, the problem was compounded.
Sanjay Kumar, a resident of Ramamurthy Nagar, said garbage had not been collected from homes since the past three days in his locality. “It is probably because of workers being on leave. As houses have generated more waste than usual, big piles have accumulated outside the residences.”
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) East control room received complaints of non-collection of garbage from KR Puram and Ramamurthy Nagar. Malleswaram MLA Ashwath Narayan had tweeted on Wednesday that garbage collection in the constituency would be affected on Thursday.
However, in spite of the complaints, pourakarmikas insist that most of them have continued to work through the festival, a fact vouched for by citizens too. Secretary of All India Central Council of Trade union (AICCTU) P Appanna said though an Act entitled the workers to 10 holidays per year, they were not given any, even on national holidays such as Gandhi Jayanti.
A BBMP official said about 200-300 tonnes of waste had been generated in KR Market in the past 3-4 days. “As Friday is the last day of the festival, farmers will abandon their unsold produce in the open. It will take about three days for us to clear it,” the official said.Member of Technical Advisory Committee of Solid Waste Management NS Ramakanth said at least 25-30% more waste was generated in the city during Dasara.
Two years ago, Ramakanth had organised a citizen-driven initiative to manage the extra waste produced during Dasara in Yelahanka, wherein tractors were used to transport waste to a nearby farm where it was composted. The initiative even received an award at a conference, and was done again in 2017. “Such citizen-driven measures are the only solutions to manage extra waste,” he said.
Dasara fest concludes at KIA
The fourth edition of the Dasara Fest at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) concluded on Thursday. The four-day event saw passengers and visitors at KIA being treated to a gombe (doll) display and a cultural display which included classical music, mohini attam, ventriloquism, bharatanatyam, yakshagana, kuchipudi and classical dance performances by talented artistes, stated a press release. A special Dasara food menu was available. Passengers were also given the opportunity to experience a virtual reality game with Ravana as the main protagonist.
Those who played the game and won, were given gift vouchers that could be redeemed at select outlets at KIA. Cultural programmes on the last day included a Kuchipudi performance by Vidushi Rajashree Holla and team, which was followed by a rendition of classical music by Vidushi Ranjani Keerthi. Indushree, India’s first female ventriloquist and 5-time Limca Book record holder mesmerised people with her performance. The final performance was a Jugalbandi performance by Layalavannya. The event was organised by Bangalore International Airport Ltd in association with the Department of Kannada and Culture.
Festival adds to KSR’s queue woes
The mad last-minute rush to reach their hometowns in time for Dasara ensured never-ending queues at the Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna (KSR) Railway Station on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. A good number ended up missing their trains and cancelled their journey. The queues to book open tickets extended way beyond the unreserved ticket booking counters. Neither the Government Railway Police nor the Railway Protection Force were present to discipline the chaotic crowd.
While some irate passengers demanded to know from railway officials why the Bengaluru Railway Division could not put in place additional facilities to cater to the rush, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager N R Sridharamurthy told TNIE that eight counters were open throughout the night to manage the rush. Another official said “the rush was unbelievably high.” An official said the numbers that landed at the station just kept piling up. Neither the mobile app for booking unreserved tickets nor the ticket-vending machines were enough. “The crowds heading for Mysuru Dasara and to Tirupati were very high,” he said.