For almost a year leftover vegetable waste has been fouling up the Kalasipalayam vegetable market area.
Bengaluru: Rotten vegetable waste is not being cleaned up by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for the past few months in front of the Motinagar slum next to the Kalasipalayam vegetable market.
People from the slum have complained to the BBMP people to clean the filth lying there for months but they said their complaints fall on deaf ears.
Selvam, a vegetable vendor, who is trying to cope with the pandemic, sits every day in his shop which is in front of vegetable rotten pile, said, “No one from BBMP is coming to pick this filth, it is going to be almost a year.”
Residents say that the waste collectors collect the upper pile of the waste, but do not clean the area properly. Sometimes the water fills the potholes and converts the road into a vegetable waste road. Banima, a 60-year-old woman, noticed the BBMP workers collecting garbage from the market and ran barefoot to ensure that they disposed it of properly. “The smell is unbearable and there is no place to walk,” said an annoyed Banima. “Some people came here and clicked some pictures of the garbage, but nobody has come to clean it from past few months,” she said.
Around 5000 metric tons per day of solid waste is generated in Bangalore and more than 35 percent of it is vegetable waste according to BBMP data. It is the highest among total waste generated in the city. More than 20,000 pourakarmikas are responsible for collecting this waste from door-to-door.
“I am coming here for four to five months, to unload the vegetables, and listen to these people’s complaints, but till date I have seen no one from BBMP come and clean that place,” said Siraj, a worker.
However, chief engineer, BBMP head office solid waste management, Vishwanath P said that they don’t ignore the waste and leave it for months. “In worst case scenario like strikes at waste management plants, the door-to door garbage collection can get delayed by two to three days, otherwise, the waste is being collected every day,” he said.
Manjunath, BBMP contractor for the ward, said that they were collecting the waste every day.
“The 20 percent of the waste which is left, loses its value after these many months, said Naveen YS working in a waste management NGO. “It is a case of system failure, when even after picking up the garbage, the place is not being cleaned,” Naveen added.
Experts feel a proper system should be put in place. “BBMP should enforce a system, similar to when they penalize residents for throwing garbage, for vegetable vendors as till the time BBMP collects the biodegradable waste it starts to stinks,” said Smita Kulkarni, member of Bangalore Eco Team (BeT). “The problem is also with the transportation of waste, the treatment plant should be nearby the vegetable market areas, so the waste could be treated then and there and does not have to be transported to a faraway place,” she added.
