Bengaluru: Those residing in high rise apartments located at Doddanekkundi Extension, Kartik Nagar in Mahadevapura, have to keep their windows and balcony door permanently shut. The reason: a garbage mound near their apartment is nearly three storeys high. This government land was meant to be a garbage segregation point, but residents complain very little of it actually gets carted away. Moreover construction debris from nearby sites too gets dumped there. The residents have filed numerous complaints but no action has been taken.
Remember Mandu, Mavallipura and other garbage crises that happened on the city outskirts. There is a new one in the making and it happens to be right inside the city.
This garbage dump sprawls an area of around four acres and is located at Doddanekkundi Extension, Kartik Nagar in Mahadevapura. Surrounded by high rise apartments, this dump towers close to three storeys!
“The garbage problem has become worse over the past one-and-a-half years and the stench is unbearable. Our apartment is next to it and the waste comes up to the height of three storeys. Before there were trees on this government land, but they were later felled and the garbage contractor Ananth Reddy started dumping trash,” said Surajit, a resident.
There are mosquitoes, rodents, nearly 30 to 40 dogs and worst of all children of construction workers, who live close to this dump, are exposed to all this, he added. Of late construction debris from nearby sites is also being dumped here.
Another resident Rahul said, “The authorities use segregation as an excuse to dump waste.” He said that ward Corporator Shwetha had told the residents to find an alternate spot to dump waste. She also told them that the local government was busy with demolitions and there was no alternate space to dump garbage.
The situation gets aggravated when it rains. “We have to keep our doors and windows in the balcony permanently closed to keep off the stench and mosquitoes. It reaches the basement too. Some people are planning to move out and a few owners have already moved and let out their homes on rent due to this problem,” said Vishal, a resident.
The residents complain that they have filed numerous complaints and brought the matter to the notice of many BBMP officials, ranging from health officer to special commissioner, but to no avail. The ticketing system of BBMP is useless, as they close the complaint without resolving it, they added.
Concerned about the health hazards, the locals are now contemplating legal recourse, protest and even FIRs against officials concerned for the current pathetic situation.
The area was meant to be used only for waste segregation: Corporator Shwetha Vijaykumar
The garbage dump near SVS palms in Kartik Nagar is nearly three-storey high. Why is this so?
The garbage dumping has stopped after we took action. This is a government land and the area was meant to be used only for segregation. The waste collected from the entire ward, is brought here, segregated and later removed, but it does not remain on the spot.
But residents complain that the issue still persists and they have complained to you, but nothing has been done. Why?
Every ward has garbage problems. There is no place to dump waste in this city, so sometimes garbage does not get taken away. Once a week or month this happens and we have to keep the waste here temporarily. Where else can we go? We have issued notices to stop dumping of mud as well, but it is still done by some people in the night.
What can be done to improve the situation and how long will it take?
When I notify the matter to health officer or any other person of this issue, they usually say they have removed the garbage already. As for the mud that is still there, we cannot remove it now because construction sites keep dumping endlessly. I will go and see tomorrow, if there is garbage under the mud, which we will try and remove as soon as possible. But where do we put it?
