Traders: Clear trash twice a day to keep Chickpet clean

Bengaluru: Chickpet, the wholesale and retail hub of the city and home to all petes of Old Bengaluru, is struggling to cope with the volume of garbage it generates on a daily basis.

The area is frequented by nearly 2 lakh people every day. “There are nearly 15,000 traders operating in the area and we have visitors from south Indian states including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala and other parts of the state such as Tumakuru, Belagavi, Bidar, Davangere etc,” said Sajjan Raj Mehta, President, Trade activist and Hosiery Association.

He said that due to garbage mismanagement, traders and visitors are facing a lot of issues. 

“We have been demanding BBMP to clean the area twice - once in morning and later in afternoon. Chickpet is one of the major trade hubs fetching a lot of revenue to the state government. But they have neglected the area,” he lamented. 

At times, angry customers blame us for the poor condition. They allege we earn a lot of money, but keep the area in a shabby state, he explained.

Traders procure goods worth crores of rupees. It mainly comes in carton boxes and hence the amount of trash in the form of packaging material is huge. Due to lack of space, some traders dump them on the footpath, Mehta said. “If the areas are cleaned for the second time between 3 and 4 pm, the collected garbage can be cleared.”

Other than traders there are nearly 200 hawkers along the narrow roads, which also adds to the existing garbage problem, Mehta said.  He said a scientific way of collecting garbage from the area should be found out and claimed the traders are open and  willing to have a discussion with the elected representatives and BBMP to find a solution, including paying extra for cleaning garbage for the second time.

BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad and Mayor Sampath Raj were not available for comments.