Empty sites turn into dumping yards

BANGALORE: With no adequate buses from Geleyara Balaga to reach the heart of the city, the main demand of the residents is to increase the frequency of buses from their area to other places in the city. As the frequency of buses are very less, the commuters have to walk down either to Mahalakshmi Layout, Kuruburahalli or Shankarmutt to catch buses to their destination.When City Express visited the ward, we found the commuters furious with the public transport system for not being able to meet their demands.While the government is constantly reminding all the citizens to use public transport to curb down air pollution, this situation is pushing us to rely on our own vehicles, said commuters who were waiting for buses at Kuruburahalli.When we visited the interiors of the ward we found that most of the empty sites in the ward converted into a mini-dumping pit for garbage and other construction wastes.“The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) should take stern measures against those who dump garbage on the empty sites. It is also the duty of the site owners to keep their sites clean and fenced. The number of stray dogs in the ward has also increased. They feed over the garbage dumped in the empty sites,” said Manjula, a resident.The residents demanded the Palike to regularly visit the ward to check on the increasing stray dog menace.The storm water drain in the ward which runs over 8th cross is filled with garbage. “Some residents who do not have any civic sense are doing this. The storm water drain has been fenced to curb such activities. The BBMP can install boards and slap fines on the violators. Some are even litting fire to the garbage near the storm water drain, making it worse for us,” said S Hari Kumar, a resident. We are risking our health for no fault of ours, Hari added.The ward corporator S Keshavmurthy was not available for comments.