At Kasturi Nagar, clean air is a luxury!

Bengaluru: The air is always laden with toxic fumes at Kasturi Nagar, as garbage gets burnt with impunity on the Third Cross. This is despite the fact that BBMP has banned garbage burning. The residents allege there is a garbage mafia at work and are wary to talk about it, as they have been threatened in the past. They complain this has been the situation for the past several months and numerous complaints to the BBMP have elicited no response

Though garbage burning has been outlawed, the residents of Kasturi Nagar are being choked with toxic fumes, as trash continues to be burnt in their neighbourhood with impunity.

Residents have posted numerous complaints on the social media against this blatant violation of the BBMP rules at Third Cross of Kasturi Nagar. They allege that repeated calls to the BBMP engineers concerned have serve no purpose as they never attend their calls.

“The nearby residents dump the wet and dry waste and the BBMP workers light a fire, which continues for several hours and the toxic fumes enters our houses, thereby raising severe health concerns,” said M.S.  Sriharsha, a resident of Kasturi Nagar.

However, the residents were apprehensive to talk about the concern as many alleged that they have been threatened in the past by the garbage mafia. Though BBMP engineers reject the presence of mafia, the residents are wary of talking about the issue. Gopinath, one of the residents, added that there is no implementation of the ground rules framed by the BBMP. The garbage burning on the Third Cross continues unabated and the miscreants are never caught.

“Does coming up with the logo of Bengaluru Tourism enough to make it livable? This is been happening brazenly for the past eight months and I cannot accept that BBMP is not aware,” Gopinath pointed out.

The biggest irony to which the residents pointed out was that despite several complaints of the area falling under Benniganahalli ward, on the citizen’s portal, ichangemycity, nothing concrete happened, though the BBMP, a year ago, updated the status of the complaint as ‘resolved’. On being asked the conclusive action which the BBMP would take to put an end to the menace, Mayor Sampath Raj said that tenders for the installation of cameras have been called out and soon they will be installed.

“The Joint Commissioner for the Solid Waste Management is responsible. I would personally look into the issue,” the Mayor added.

‘Nearby residents responsible for burning trash’
Q&A with the Assistant Executive Engineer, Solid Waste Management, Puttaswamy

The garbage burning at Kasturi Nagar goes unabated and the residents allege that officials are complicit. Why?
The burning takes place in the evening and we suspect that the nearby residents are responsible. It is indeed a criminal act and I am saddened with this. The pourakarmikas cannot be blamed, since they collect the garbage.

If the Pourakarmikas collect garbage, why burning continues at this pace? Is garbage mafia active in the area?
Over 50% of the residents do not care about the menace. Crores of rupees have been spent on garbage disposal, but some people never learn. Our pourakarmikas collect the garbage.

Why is there a delay in the installation of cameras?
This comes under the financial jurisdiction and the officials senior to me can decide about it. We have requested for the cameras.