Landfills, a bane to the city
This is a full page feature story originally published in Star of Mysore English Evening Daily on 29th November 2014.
Trash and garbage are something which we see almost everywhere in cities and towns of India. Street corners are piled with trash. Public places and sidewalks are deposited with filth and litter. This is nothing but a serious mismanagement of wastes that is happening in India. A clear result of a stunning failure of governance, may be. Mysuru, is one among the other cities in our state where such failures of governance are clearly visible. Solid wastes are being dumped on the empty lands outside the city since many years.
Even though there is a garbage dump yard in city, there is no stopping for the disposal of wastes in private or municipal corporation lands situated in the outskirts of the city. It seems that the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) and Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) are turning their nose away from looking at effective alternatives to tackle solid wastes. The dumping of wastes on the road side and on some empty private lands is increasing at an alarming rate.
One such landfill area in city where heaps of solid wastes can be found is near Columbia Asia Hospital on Bengaluru-Mysuru Road. The foul smell and the dumping of wastes is surely an eye sore for the tourists as this is what they encounter as soon as they enter the Heritage city. The removal of these heaps of debris stretched for nearly half a mile on the road side is surely a task for the concerned authorities to make Mysuru more cleaner. Ravi, a resident of Gandhi Nagar in city and an agriculturist claims to have seen trucks dumping garbage on the side of the road. This is of a bad impression to the tourists who come from Bengaluru, he opined. “People who come with huge tippers to dump the wastes here say that the land belongs to them and they are dumping the waste onto their own land,” said Ravi while speaking about the lethargic mental condition of the people involved in cluttering the scenic beauty of city. He also said that he has been told many times that nearly 20 ft of land from the edge of the road and into his farm belongs to them. He added, “I have no knowledge to read and write, but I request some educated persons to kindly probe into this matter and save the city.”
He later commented that, corporation tippers come and dump the wastes here and seeing upon this, people follow the same. “Such dumping of wastes on this road has to be stopped as they are posing a threat to the neighbourhood with schools, colleges and hospitals around,” Ravi further added.
We can observe another such landfill on the outskirts of city on T. Narsipur Road. The lake which once used to be a scenic beauty with full of water has now become a landfill with just garbage and construction wastes being dumped into it. The lake has been completely dried up and it is being slowly filled with construction wastes. It seems that there will be no clue of the existence of the lake in the near future. A security guard (name not published upon request) of a computer centre located near the dried up lake told that the construction debris are being unloaded by huge trucks into the landfill almost every now and then. “We have lodged complaints many times about this issue but, no one in the corporation office seems to be interested in solving it,” he added.
He further said that it is high time for the corporation to take some serious actions against this problem and protect the nature. He also added, “The surrounding areas of the lake are also in the devastated states which must be developed and protected from the land encroachers.”
Also, the helipad near The Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel is on its way to soon become another landfill. The place which is known for its calm and peaceful surrounding, is a favorite destiny for the nearby residents to have their daily walk. A resident of the locality said, “It is sad to know that the corporation is not taking any step in protecting this helipad and develop it,” and added, “Many trucks often unload their construction debris here on this land.”
Landfills in Mysuru does not end with these three areas, but they can be found in almost everywhere. We all might have observed in our localities that empty sites are usually filled up with debris. It is not just the duty of the government to save lands from being dumped with garbage but also we, the citizens are equally responsible. We are the ones who need to stop throwing our garbage covers into the empty sites. We are the ones who need to take our step to lodge complaints with the concerned authorities when ever we notice a landfill in city. On a concluding note, landfill is a method of disposal of waste but it has to be done in an authorized manner.
