A walk down Cunningham Road is tiresome owing to the traffic, but a
garbage dump within 100 metres of  the Queens Road junction gives
pedestrians a harder time. Many people who work at the eateries and
shops in the vicinity maintain that the pile grow overnight. “As we are
not there, we don’t know who dumps it,” said Rekha, who works at a
jewellery showroom. Krishna and Vishu, two software engineers who
frequent the stretch, said that though most pedestrians were unhappy
with the situation, not many wanted to raise their voice. “As there
aren’t many residences here, people don’t have a sense of ownership to
complain,” they said.

This was reflected in the response of the
manager of a hotel nearby. “The stink and flies affect us, even though
the dump is not directly opposite our eatery, but we can’t complain – we
aren’t residents here,” said Mehboob Ali. Cashier Imran Ali added that
the hotel has received complaints even from customers. “We have AC
inside, so it’s not a problem. But those who come to pick up something
from the juice and ice cream stall outside will have to bear with the
smell.” Mehboob further said that their hotel was questioned by both
BBMP officials as well as the manager of another eatery. “Someone
apparently found a sausage in the garbage pile, so they accused us of
dumping it there. So I had to take the person to our kitchen and show
them that while we serve chicken and mutton, we don’t serve sausages.”

A
few people point fingers at the  high-rise buildings here. However, S
Ganeshan, the manger of one of the apartments said, “I too walk up and
down past the garbage pile everyday. So I know the problem, but it
doesn’t come from our apartment.”

M Gopi, the Corporator of
Sampangirama Nagar (ward 110), under whom the area falls denied
knowledge of the issue. “We have been having problems with the garbage
contractor here for over two years. I have even given a letter to the
health inspector about this. I will get this cleared at the earliest,”
he said.