Contractors’ move endangers residents

BANGALORE: Thousands of residents around Govindapur and Basavalingappa Layout near Ambedkar Medical College are in for a disaster.
Heaps of rotting waste being dumped in the area by BCC garbage contractors over the past few days is assuming menacing proportions, what with a suspected outbreak of gastroenteritis and typhoid.
After Kavalbyrasandra, which was plagued by several cases of dengue last week, it now seems like the adjoining Govindapur and surrounding areas will be hit by the scourge.
Several truckloads of garbage are brought into the area overnight and dumped along the area running parallel to the Shampura railway line in Ward 28 Byatarayanapura CMC limits, near Ambedkar Medical College.
The heavy downpour in the last few days has sprung a perfect breeding ground for flies and houseflies. Let alone stepping out of their homes, residents on the other side of the railway line are unable to keep their doors and windows open, thanks to the all-pervading thick swarm of houseflies.
Doctors in the area are busy attending to scores of GE and typhoid cases among children.
“There is every possibility that the area will soon be plagued with dengue when the rain subsides, as stagnant water will start breeding mosquitoes,’’ says Dr Syed Irfan, a local physician.
He is unable to keep his clinic open because of the stench and increasing number of flies, and has attended to over 10 cases of GE and typhoid in the last three days.
Every morning, residents attempt to bring in some relief by pouring kerosene over the garbage and burning it. “However, it has not helped. Night after night, the garbage heap has only increased. Moreover, the flies seem to have become immune to insecticides. Complaints to the councillor have not helped,’’ says Richard Sagayanathan, owner of a metal fabrication unit in Basavalingappa Layout.
Councillor S. Raja says he is helpless. “Our efforts to nab the culprits have failed as they manage to discreetly dump garbage at night at various points along the railway line,’’ he says.
Basavalingappa Layout, Govindapura and several places in Byatarayanapura have been provided with one tractor to clear garbage, and that only once a week. “That is just enough to clear regular garbage from our ward. The dumping yard cannot be cleared for now,’’ says Raja.