Rain & garbage: City turns cesspool

[1]

Incessant rainfall seems to have played spoilsport for the BBMP in clearing the tons of garbage piled up all over the city. Mounds of waste can still found on roadsides and market areas due to the non-availability of trucks to transport the garbage to the Mandur landfill, raising fears of an epidemic breakout.

The accumulated waste has become a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. But the BBMP maintains that it has been able to clear 3,000 tons of garbage while another 1,000 tons has not been cleared due to rain. roads is also making movement of vehicles and pedestrians difficult. Due to the accumulation of wet waste, coupled with the intermittent rain, leachate has been flowing on to the street, emanating an unbearable stench, said Mrs Pavithra G., a resident of Srirampuram.

Vegetable markets are the worst affected where vegetable waste is rotting due to the rains. Due to the continuous downpour, about 50 garbage trucks could not be unloaded at Mandur, leading to a backlog and consequent piling up of garbage across the city, BBMP officials said.

BBMP commissioner Rajneesh Goel said there was some problem in lifting and dumping garbage on Wednesday and Thursday due to the rain. To add to it, there is staff crunch too. “The joint commissioner (South) has been directed to hire additional trucks to clear garbage”, he said.
After holding meeting with zonal joint commissioners, Mr Goel directed them to issue letter of acceptance to new garbage contractors. Subsequently, an agreement will be entered into with them enabling them to clear garbage, he said.

But for citizens, the misery only seems to be piling on. On Thursday, traffic flow on some roads was affected due to the uprooting of trees and tree branches across the city due to rain and gusty winds. However, no damages to public and private property have been reported. The Palike said it had cleared 89 trees and tree branches on Thursday.

Several arterial and sub-arterial roads have developed potholes and the road surface eroded due to continuous rain. “With rain water clogging the roads, motorists cannot even spot potholes”, said Mr Dhruva Kumar, a techie.

At least 25 complaints of trees and branches falling were received by the BBMP control room. Tree falls were reported from Jayanagar, Kempapura near Hebbal, New Thippasandra, Malleswaram, HAL 2nd Stage, Nandini Layout, Banashankari, Domlur, BTM Layout 2nd stage, Indiranagar, HBR Layout, Hampinagar, Dollar’s Colony near RMV Extension, Lingarajpuram, Sanjaynagar, Jayamahal, Frazer Town, Nagavara, Shivananda Circle and Ramamurthynagar junction.