Vol. 12 Issue 5 Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media, Bangalore 20 September, 2012

FORGOTTEN children as

young as seven clean toilets

in a government juvenile

home awaiting justice.

Jyoti, 14, was brought to the

Department of Karnataka

Women and Child Development

when she was found begging in

Rachael Market three years ago.

She said: “They often take

me to the court and say they will

release me soon but for the last

three years I have been here. I

miss my mother, father and elder

brother.”

She complained her parents

are not aware of where she is

and the authority has not in-

formed them or taken her back

home, despite frequent assur-

ances.

To add to the plight of these

girls, the authorities are strict

and make them do menial work.

“They make us clean toilets

and sweep floors. Leaders are

chosen from among the inmates

and these leaders even beat us

up badly if the work is not done

properly,” said Jyoti.

It’s the same case with

Geetha, 11, and Meghna, 7.

They were brought to the juve-

nile home 15 days ago when

they were found begging in

Morar.

Geetha said: “I was begging

in a railway station when a police

officer caught hold of me and

Meghna, and brought us here.”

“My father does not know

where I am and he must be look-

ing for me. I keep telling them to

take me back to my father but

they take no action,” she added.

According to the Prevention

of Begging Act, 1959, begging is

an offence and juveniles found

guilty by a court of law can be

sentenced to a minimum of one

year and a maximum of three

years.

Aditya Mathur, Public Rela-

tions Officer of the social devel-

opment organization Pankhudi,

said: “It is not morally right to

make the children do such work.

Even if the police bring the chil-

dren to juvenile homes, their pri-

ority should be contacting their

parents.”

(Names of the children have

been changed to protect identi-

ties).

Girls in juvenile home only want to go back homeBy Debanti Roy

Ghost town Bangalore

No ray of hope for these girls in juvenile home.

Some girls have spent three years awaiting trial.

BANGALORE came to a

standstill as the nationwide

bandh called by the opposi-

tion affected mobility and

work across the city.

The nationwide strike called

by the National Democratic Al-

liance (NDA) and other opposi-

tion parties against the recent

hike in diesel prices and al-

lowance of Foreign Direct In-

vestment (FDI) received good

response across the state.

All schools and colleges

across the city were closed.

KSRTC and BMTC buses were

off the road. However, a KSRTC

official told ‘The Observer’ that

some buses were operational in

the morning. "We operated

buses to Shimoga, Arsikere and

Tumkur," he said.

Police were on high alert to

prevent any untoward incidents

in the city. 20-25 units of RPF

personnel were deployed at rail-

way stations across Bangalore.

All shops and offices chose

to remain shut and only essential

commodities like milk and med-

ical services are available.

Yeddyurappa detained

Leaders from the top eche-

lons of the state BJP were taken

into preventive custody today,

after staging protests against the

recent hike in fuel prices.

Former Chief Minister B S

Yeddyurappa, along with the

other BJP leaders Ananth

Kumar, C M Chandrashekar, Ra-

machandra Gowda and Lakshmi

Narayana were held at the

Ashok Nagar Police Station for a

little more than an hour.

They were later released,

after congregations of protesting

BJP cadres were dispersed by

the city police. “It is the duty of

the police to maintain law and

order, and sometimes it be-

comes necessary to take people

into preventive custody. That is

the reason we had to take them

into custody,” said B R Ravikan-

the Gowda, DCP (Central Divi-

sion).

Current scenario

The city was deserted until

six in the evening after which the

buses were back on the road.

Shops around MG Road and

Majestic Bus Station returned to

normal.

Police sources said that

there were no cases of violence

or stone pelting reported in the

city.

Background

The Bharat Bandh is a part of a

series of nationwide protests

called by the opposition parties,

opposing the hike in fuel prices,

introduction of FDI in the retail

sector and also the aviation in-

dustry. (Contd on Page 3)

Reporting Team:

Krishnaprasad S, Rohan Prem,

Nikita Malusare, Shruti Tiwari &

Sumit

Despite the production of a mil-

lion incense sticks a month, the

workers’ future is uncertain.

>Page 2

The number of female addicts

are on the rise but there are no

female rehab centres.

>Page 3

Youth rally held in the city spot-

lights the plight of the young

unemployed.

>Page 4

Ph

oto

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eb

an

ti R

oy

Ph

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: D

eb

an

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oy

Yeddyurappa was detained near Maharani College and taken into preventive custody.

Ph

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: K

PN

02 The Weekly Observer 20 September 2012 | City

SLUM workers who earn just

one rupee for every 400 in-

cense sticks they make have

been threatened with closure

by gang bosses.

The unit, which is distributed

between two small, dimly-lit

rooms in a slum in Nayandahalli,

accommodates 10 women work-

ers. Each woman makes 4000

incense sticks (agarbattis)

everyday for a paltry Rs. 100.

However, the middleman

who engaged them was not

happy with the production and

declared that the unit would be

closed on October 1.

He wants the women to shift

to another bigger unit near Ken-

geri but workers say that it would

be difficult for them to work away

from home.

Shabnam, a mother of two,

said: “We are working in this unit

because it’s near our house, and

we can also keep an eye on the

children.”

She added: “Besides, the

company is not going to provide

bus fares. How can we manage

so many expenses with only Rs.

100 per day?”

It is strange to note that none

of the women know who their

employer is. The raw materials

for production are delivered to

them every day in the morning,

and the finished products are

carried away in trucks once a

week.

The workers know only the

middleman who pays their daily

wages.

Incense stick manufacturing

in India primarily thrives on unor-

ganized women working in

slums and villages. Companies

engage poor women in small,

dingy rooms and dole out Rs.

100-120 for eight hours of stren-

uous work.

These unregistered units do

not come under the purview of

any labor laws, and these

women are deprived of benefits

like Provident Fund and Em-

ployee State Insurance unlike

their counterparts working in li-

censed factories.

Another young mother, Ausar

said: “We do not get any other

benefit from our employers apart

from our daily wages.”

Long hours of sitting and

pressing out incense sticks re-

sult in headache, backache and

severe pain in the hands for the

workers.

According to Shabnam, there

is no use of going to government

hospitals to get treatment as

they are always overcrowded.

Shaheena, 55, said: “I get

severe backaches because of

the long hours, but have no

other support as none of my chil-

dren stay with me. I do not know

how I will fend for myself after

the unit is closed”.

By Kakoli Mukherjee

Workers toiling hard for long hours.

A woman at work in the factory.

Ph

oto

:Kako

li M

ukh

erj

ee

Ph

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:Kako

li M

ukh

erj

ee

Prescription guidelines violated,

scores of lives being put at risk

AN Ayurvedic doctor in Gola

halli village is prescribing al-

lopathic drugs risking lives of

numerous villagers.

The lone private clinic in Go-

lahalli village is run by Dr. R.S.

Yadav. He is an ayurvedic doctor

by qualification.

As there are no pharmacies

in the vicinity, the local residents

approach this clinic for their

treatment. He prescribes allo-

pathic drugs although he is not

qualified to do so.

The Medical Council of India

(MCI), which is the regulatory

body for doctors in the country,

has set certain guidelines for

prescription of drugs by doctors.

A local, Chenappa, when

asked if he knew about the reg-

ulation, said: “I don’t know any-

thing about the rules. The doctor

treats us well and we are happy

that he practices here.”

Another villager, Saraswati,

when asked if any incidents of

death or injury have occurred

due to wrong prescription of

medicines, said: “No, there have

been no such incidents. The

doctor is very good and we trust

the doctor completely.”

The MCI in its guidelines

says that an Ayurvedic doctor is

not allowed to prescribe allo-

pathic drugs.

The AYUSH (Ayurveda,

Yoga, Unani, Siddha, & Home-

opathy) doctors are still agitating

against the MCI to amend the

regulation and allow them to

practice allopathic medicines.

This is a long standing strug-

gle between the council and the

AYUSH doctors. The MCI has

still maintained a status quo on

the amendment.

On repeated attempts of con-

tact with the doctor, the doctor

refused to comment on the issue

every single time.

Blind people hurt on danger road

BLIND people face a daily as-

sault course of filth, debris

and broken footpaths on their

way to a training center.

The footpaths are in com-

plete disarray. The trainees of

the National Association for the

Blind face a bigger threat as it is

the main road connecting to the

Association.

M. Srinivas, the chief execu-

tive officer of National Associa-

tion for the Blind, said: “The blind

people face a lot of problems

due to the negligence of the au-

thorities.

He also added: “There

should be proper planning by the

authorities and try to make the

infrastructure disabled-friendly.”

The management of the as-

sociation is worried about the

conditon of the pavement.

Narsimhan, a trainee at the

center, said:”The manholes are

deep and create a problem for

us to walk on the footpath.

Some of my old fellow mates

have been hurt while walking on

these footpaths.”

The footpath is regularly

blocked by the vehicles parked

on it.

The slabs of the pavement

are either broken or protruding

and one cannot even step on

them.

Mr. Jay Kumar, the head of

the mobility training center of the

Association, said: “We have

complained a lot of times but no

action has been taken.”

“The only immediate action is

often make-shift and at times,

more dangerous,” he added.

We provide them with mobil-

ity training but it becomes diffi-

cult when a hole that had not

been there before appears all of

a sudden.”

There was no significant re-

sponse from authorities even

after repeated complaints.

The association has decided

to give up even though the foot-

paths seem to get worse by the

day.

“The people need to act

more responsibly as it is a huge

problem for everyone, especially

the blind,” said M. Srinivas,

when asked about the lack of ac-

tion from the concerned authori-

ties.

By Nupur Gour & Tulika Mall By Pushkar Banakar

Ph

oto

:Ag

hila A

lex

Dr. R.S. Yadav

Garbage lying on the broken pavement of Jeevanbima nagar.

Ph

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:Tu

lik

a M

all

ALMOST 100 illegal places

of worship in the city are

blocking development proj-

ects, according to state offi-

cials.

Out of 92 illegal temples,

mosques, gurudwaras and

churches in the city, only 12

have been demolished by the

government.

Communities like Hindus and

Muslims have more than 50 ille-

gal temples and mosques, inter-

rupting several BBMP projects..

Chief engineer (BBMP),

south zone, said: “We would

have taken this initiative long

ago but due to political pressure,

we are not able to do anything.

We started demolishing these

temples only six months ago be-

cause they are occupying public

property and government land”.

Assistant Engineer Shiv-

prakash added that they started

demolishing the temples and

planning new parks and devel-

opment projects.

Residents of Jaya Nagar and

J.P Nagar in South Zone say

more than five temples have

been built on the land which had

been ear-marked for an amuse-

ment park. They added, though

BBMP sent a notice to the tem-

ple trustees a year ago telling

them to shift their location, the

temples stand as before.

M.P Gouri, a resident of Jaya

Nagar, said: “We have been fac-

ing problems with temples but

these trustees are creating even

more problems.

“They regularly conduct ritu-

als and dump the waste in the

park, and if anybody tells them

to clean this waste, they behave

like deaf and dumb”.

In 2008, a 15-year-old

Ayyapa temple was demolished

by BBMP because it was built on

the forest department land.

According to the BBMP, the

temple had been the root cause

of traffic problems for citizens in

areas such as Vannerpet,

Jayanagar, and Vijaynagar.

Residents also face prob-

lems each day due to demands

of donations by temple trustees.

A resident, Chandrasekhar,

said: “For every small occasion,

the temple authorities are asking

for funds and that too not less

than Rs.500. We have to oblige

in the name of religion and God.”

There is an old temple situ-

ated in Vijaynagar known as

Maruti Temple which is listed

among BBMP’s 92 illegal and

unauthorized temples. It has

been built in the heart of Vijayna-

gar.

Ph

oto

:Resh

ma T

arw

an

i

An illegal temple in the heart of Vijaynagar.

By Reshma Tawrani

Devotion holding back city’s development

Uncertainty looms despite a million incense sticks a month

City The Weekly Observer 20 September, 2012 | 03

Female addicts get a raw deal

THERE are no rehabilitation

centers exclusively for women

in the city though the number

of women addicts is on the

rise.

There are around 40 drug

and alcohol rehab centers for

men in the city.

Miracle Foundation, India’s

first and only rehab centre for

women, have started admitting

men too because of lack of

funds.

Dr. Prakash of Sai trust Re-

habilitation Center said: “Socio-

cultural changes have altered

the traditional role of women and

the number of women addicted

to drugs and alcohol is increas-

ing”.

Drug addiction and alco-

holism are rarely talked about as

our culture does not entertain

addiction of any kind.

The country’s official statis-

tics never show the number of

female drug addicts.

Thus, the exact increase in

the number cannot be deter-

mined.

Addiction is a medical issue

that requires numerous ongoing

behavioral, medical and recov-

ery support services.

There are a few rehabilitation

centers for men which admit

women.

Detox centers attached to

hospitals treat men and women

on a 28-days program.

There is also a social stigma

attached to female addicts in our

country.

Neetha, a recovering addict,

said: “My friend’s father had

once taken her to Delhi to get

treated, but he was not comfort-

able admitting his daughter to a

facility filled with men and just a

couple of women in a room”.

Preena, another recovering

addict, said: “Indians may wear

coats and ties, but their minds

have not progressed. Women

addicts are considered to be

sluts.”

According to the Miracle

Foundation, majority of women

addicts’ families shy away from

admitting the fact that there are

addicts in their families.

The government should take

steps to address the situation.

“The main problem we face

is from our families and the soci-

ety.

“They are more concerned

about societal repercussions

and that their family name will be

spoiled if the matter comes in

open,” said Neetha.

The doctor further added:

“The age group of women ad-

dicts seeking help at the Sai

Center ranges from 15-60 years.

They begin by sniffing Era-

sex and gradually take up smok-

ing weed, and before long, they

are using hard drugs or party

drugs such as heroin, cocaine

and ecstasy.”

According to the center,

women in the age group of 21-

30 years mostly use party drugs.

Women between 25 and 40

years are housewives and a ma-

jority of them get addicted to

sedatives and prescription

drugs, and a small percentage to

alcohol.

The reasons cited for taking

to drugs are marital problems,

separation, physical abuse, de-

pression and even boredom.

Women in the age group of

40 years and above are mostly

addicted to alcohol.

Dr. Prakash said: “I consider

alcohol addiction to be a dis-

ease, and all addicts should be

cured of it.

“I was myself an alcoholic for

two years, and after I was cured,

I chose to come here and do my

bit for humanity,”added Dr-

Prakash.

Sai Center has treated six fe-

male patients.

The doctor added: “We follow

a 12-step rehabilitation program

followed by AA (Alcoholics

Anonymous).”

He added: “This program

forms the basis of recovery from

all addictions.”

There are no rigid monetary

rules followed and the center of-

fers free treatment and dis-

counts to addicts from the

economically weaker sections of

society.

(Names have been changed to

protect identity).

By: Satyajith GD

Bangalore metro commuters

not yet on their bikesPrivate and Confidential

THE plan to introduce bicy-cles equipped with Global Po-sitioning System (GPS) withinthe metro catchment areasshould finally be implementedby mid-October.

Divya Sridharan, Executive

Assistant Legal supervisor, Ban-

galore Metro Rail Corporation

Limited (BMRCL), said: “We ex-

pect to implement the plan by

mid-October.”

“Our main objective is to pro-

vide commuters with these cy-

cles so that they can travel short

distances for any sort of work

without waiting long hours for

other transport.” she added.

The charge for hiring a cycle

is still not fixed as the authorities

are apprehensive as to how

metro rail commuters are going

to welcome this new proposal.

A person hiring such a cycle

will have to pay an extra sum of

money at the time of purchasing

the metro ticket.

The fare will vary on the

basis of the distance and the

time travelled.

The authorities of the

BMRCL refused to reveal the

name of the company.

They also do not want to re-

veal the service provider with

whom they have signed the deal

of providing these bicycles.

They plan to keep the infor-

mation confidential until and un-

less the plan is successfully

implemented.

The GPS monitoring system-

attached to every cycle helps to-

track them and find parking

space for the commuters.

After the work is done the

person hiring the cycle is ex-

pected to bring it back to their

actual destination.

Cycle stands are supposed

to operate from six main metro

stations which include Byap-

panahalli, Swami Vivekananda

Road, Indiranagar, Ulsoor,

Trinity and M.G Road.

Five to six bicycles were

planned to be made available at

each station.

By: Shromona Bose THE demand by telecom com-

panies to provide bank state-

ments has raised data

security concerns among cus-

tomers.

Under critical circumstances

postpaid mobile customers are

asked to give their bank state-

ments of the last six months as

an authentic address proof if

they wished to effect a change in

address.

Amarnath, an Airtel customer

, who wished to change the ad-

dress for her postpaid number

said: “I am not comfortable giv-

ing my bank statements as an

address proof to a private tele-

com company.

Though we give copies of our

bank statements for issuing a

passport but when it comes to a

private organization people tend

to think twice before revealing

such details.”

The Telecom Regulatory Au-

thority of India (TRAI) considers

a passbook of “any scheduled

bank” as an authentic address

proof.

Private telecom companies

accept passbooks of national-

ized banks alone.

Different verification proce-

dures are being followed by dif-

ferent telecom companies.

Shaifo, Team Leader at Re-

liance World, said, “Recent bank

statements are necessary as

they show that the account is still

running.”

Shafio also added that for the

satisfaction of the customer they

score out the account number

from the document as it is not

required.

He also mentioned that the

misuse of sim cards and data

cables in the past have forced

the telecom companies to take

strict verification methods.

Pavan, Assistant Manager at

a Vodafone Store, said: “We

take bank statements only when

a company asks for bulk con-

nections”.

He also added that for indi-

vidual connections they take a

covering letter, or a copy of the

first page of a passbook of a na-

tionalized bank.

Raghavan, Branch Manager

of Canara Bank, said: “TRAI

rules cannot be amended, so we

give the customers their bank

statements back when they ask

for it after verification.”

He also added that he per-

sonally felt a covering letter

would be sufficient.

It goes to show that there is

no similarity in the rules followed

by all of them.

The insecurity of the cus-

tomers is very justified in this

scenario.

This scenario will affect the

compatiblity of banking and de-

velopment of telecom sector in

the state.

By Sneha Banerjee

Ph

oto

: S

aty

ajith

GD

Ph

oto

: S

neh

a B

an

erj

ee

Ph

oto

: S

hro

mo

na B

ose

Women drinking in a bar.

BMRCL, Shanti Nagar.

Bank documents make mobile connections feasible .

Woes of commuters

(Contd. from page 1)

Commuters were stranded

at Majestic, Shivajinagar, Yesh-

wantpur, KR Market and Ken-

geri BMTC bus stations. Those

who arrived by trains were

stranded at the railway stations.

Some of them hired au-

torickshaws and boarded pri-

vate buses to reach their

homes. Auto drivers fleeced the

commuters quoting a high price.

Ramesh Babu, who had to

visit his mother in St. Johns

Hospital, had no idea how he

would make it to the hospital

from Majestic Bus Terminul.

Electronic City, where many

IT and BT companies are situ-

ated, was also deserted. The IT

companies have deployed Cen-

tral Security Force personnel to

man important infrastructure on

their campuses.

In Mysore, BJP workers

stopped a Kannada film shoot-

ing schedule where a Banga-

lore based actress, Ramya, was

involved. Ramya, who recently

had joined the Congress party,

argued with BJP workers, who

interrupted the shooting.

Cities like Davanagere,

Hubli-Dharwad, Mandya, Shi-

moga, Tumkur and Mangalore

also wore a deserted look.

J.S. Naidu told ‘The Ob-

server’ that he did not support

the introduction of FDI in the re-

tail sector. Naidu was a member

of the Congress for the past

thirty years.

Ghost town: A rare scene at KR Market.

Ph

oto

: A

run

Ch

an

dra

P

ho

to:

Aru

n C

han

dra

Protesters at Town Hall.

The Observer Crew

IIJNM PUBLICATIONS

Opp. BGS International Resi-

dential School

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Kumbalgudu

Kengeri Hobli

Bangalore - 560060

India

Ph.No: +919008805218

Email: sneha.b@iijnm.org

Website:www.thesoftcopy.org

For private circulation only

The Weekly Observer

Editor

Sneha Banerjee

Chief Sub-Editor

Kakoli Mukherjee

Photo Editor

Udita Chaturvedi

Page Editors

Krishnaprasad. S

Aheli Raychaudhuri

Reshma Tarwani

Satyajith GD

Proof Readers

Pushkar Banakar

Nupur Gour

Debanti Roy

Shromona Bose

04 The Weekly Observer 20 September 2012 | City

BANGALORE Bruhat Mahana-

gar Palike(BBMP) spends Rs.

75 lakh annually towards main-

taining its offices while gutkha

packets and cigarette butts lie

strewn over the premises.

BBMP premises in Bangalore

are turning out to be convenient

dumpsters for gutkha consumers

and smokers. One of the BBMP of-

fices in the city on J C Road is an

illustration of this menace. The

staff of BBMP flouts the rule of no

smoking in public places and gov-

ernment offices.

“They eat paan, chew gutkha

and smoke in toilet creating prob-

lems to public. We can’t even walk

on the floors of the office. It smells

odd. Gutkha is spit on almost all

the walls of the office”, said Mohan

who visits BBMP often.

Some of the BBMP offices in

the city are situated on the second

or third floor, and there are no

proper flooring facilities. Most of

the flooring at the BBMP offices

have uneven flooring that causes

inconvenience to elderly visitors.

To add to the visitors’ woes,

there are no lift facilities in any of

the BBMP offices in the city except

the BBMP main office at Corpora-

tion Circle.

Bhima Rao, a senior citizen,

said: “How can we walk and climb

till second and third floor? It is very

difficult for us to climb up. They

have to keep all aspects in mind

and work according to it.

But I don’t mind climbing even

if it is difficult hoping that my work

would be done without bribing

them.”

Krishnaprasad. SA youth rally in the city last

week highlighted the problems

of unemployment in the country.

The Democratic Youth Federa-

tion of India (DYFI) conference in

Bangalore started with a protest

march from the Bangalore City

Station to Freedom Park, followed

by a five-day long conference in

the city.

The conference headed by the

All India DYFI President, Mr. Sri-

ram Krishna among other leaders

and prominent personalities, dis-

cussed at length the abysmal state

of unemployment in the country.

Sandeep Alinkeel, Office Sec-

retary of DYFI (Kerala), said: “The

number of job seekers registered

stood at a staggering 3.81 crore at

the end of 2009. 2.9 crore of them

were educated job seekers.”

“About 90 lakh of them were

uneducated. In Kerala alone, more

than 45 lakh people have been

registered for employment ex-

change,” he added.

Ranjeeth AV, a block leader,

said: “We are fighting against glob-

alization, imperialism and commu-

nalism within the country.”

Kavyan C, one of the partici-

pants of the march, said: “The pur-

pose of this march and conference

is not just to tell people something

but to bring a change.”

Alinkeel said: “Unemployment

is a national level issue which has

now turned into a global phenom-

enon.”

The DYFI was concerned

about the alarming unemployment

situation in the country and aimed

to work hard to unite and mobilize

the youth of the country in the

struggle for an empowered India.

This conference was attended

by 750 delegates, including the

members of Central Empowered

Committee, and about 25,000

comrades who attended the rally in

the city.

Alinkeel said: “The Global Em-

ployment Trends 2012, a report by

the International Labour Organisa-

tion, has pointed out the decline in

rate of unemployment in the South

Asia was mainly driven by India.

The growth here has propelled

the increase in labour productivity

rather than the expansion of em-

ployment. This shows that the

much hyped growth story of India

is nothing but a job-less growth.

We believe that both the indus-

trial and the service sectors have

failed to absorb the surplus work-

force from the agricultural sector.

Adding to their woes, govern-

ment’s proposed plans of including

FDI in retail sector will only worsen

the unemployment situation in the

country.”

The march participants believe

the aggravated unemployment sit-

uation reflects the absurdity of a

lopsided and imbalanced growth

trajectory guided by neo-liberal re-

forms.

According to Alinkeel, the

scope of Mahatma Gandhi Na-

tional Rural Employment Guaran-

tee Act should be expanded to

include all individuals and the 100

days cap should be enhanced. Fi-

nancial support, self help groups

and small enterprises should be

enhanced for self employment

schemes”.

The 9th India Conference aims

at building a mass movement

against the problem of unemploy-

ment.

Hopefully, this movement will

somewhat counter unemployment.

Rally highlights unemployment rates in the country

FURIOUS shop owners con-

fronted the city mayor after a

heap of garbage caught fire at

Indiranagar.

Last week the garbage on

CMH road caught fire at about

11:30 am. People went to Bruhat

Bangalore Mahanagar Palike

(BBMP) head office to report the

fire incident. They were denied

entry by the security initially. The

shopkeepers managed to get to

the mayor later.

The Public Relation Officer and

the mayor advised them to go to

east zone office which would han-

dle the entire issue. The mayor told

them that head office is helpless in

this matter, as each area comes

under a specific zone of BBMP.

Although two trucks are always

parked to collect the waste but on

weekend the pile is mammoth and

there are no trucks to collect the

same. Weekends also need some

vehicles to tackle this crisis but the

BBMP is turning a blind eye to it.

The unbearable stink of the

garbage piled near the shops

makes it difficult for their owners to

run their business.

Max retail store on CMH road

is facing this terrible problem. The

owner said:” We are fed up with

BBMP, we lodged more than 65

complaints but they are simply ig-

norant. Most of the times I have to

shut down my shop especially on

weekends which is the best time to

increase my sale.”

The narrow lane on CMH road

is the main entrance which is piled

up with garbage all the time. Last

week the garbage caught fire

which created heavy chaos among

the pedestrians and shopkeepers.

Mayor, D. Venkatesha Murthy,

said: ”I know that the narrow lane

is the main road and has shops on

both the sides. I received more

than 65 complaints from that area

which is always filled up with

garbage and is stinking and

spreading infection. We will take

up this issue seriously within a

week.”

The area is crowded and al-

ways chaotic. The area is the main

centre of shopping and restaurants

which most of the time remains

closed on weekends because of

garbage in front of their shops.

The situation worsens during

rain when this garbage spreads on

the entire road.

Although there have been nu-

merous proposals and promises

made by the officials of Bangalore

Bruhat Mahanagar Palike, the citi-

zens are yet to see them imple-

mented.

The officials will start their work

from the third week of September.

All the arrangements are ready to

be implemented.

Udita Chaturvedi

Youth march from the Bangalore City Junction railway station to the Freedom Park.

THE foot subways on Nrupthanga Road reek of urine and alcohol.

The commuters face problems but have no option other than this

passageway to avoid the traffic overhead. The BBMP has not

cleaned this particular subway in the last 6-7 months.

Ph

oto

: U

dit

a C

hatu

rved

i

75 lakhs granted for

maintainance yet cig-

garette stubs continue to

litter BBMP offices

Pedestrians gasp for breath as

subways flouts basic hygiene

Agitated traders confront

mayor after garbage blaze

Nijhum Rudra

By A

heli R

aych

au

dh

uri

By

Nijh

um

Ru

dra

Garbage on CMH Road.