By Vijay Phanshikar :
A visit to a celebrated educational institution brought alive sights of ugly mountains of city’s garbage dump yard at Bhandewadi on the eastern outskirts. ‘Mountains’ is the only expression that needs to be used to describe the sight. On several acres, all we see are only mountains of garbage collected from the city’s roads and lanes and by-lanes get added up to the already existing ‘treasure of filth’ on a daily basis. True, some of the accumulated garbage does get disposed of at some intervals. But that proportion is so small that all people see at Bhandewadi is an ever-expanding ranges of garbage mountains --
complete with a sense of shock and stink and all-pervading filth.
The whole scene conveys a huge civic apathy, a massive administrative
inefficiency ... !
The loosefooter has visited the Bhandewadi dump yard several times in the past few years -- as part of his work as a journalist, and also as a
citizen of Nagpur. Each of those visits has produced a deep and sickening sense of disgust that the city’s
leadership has not been able to solve the problem of disposal of solid waste getting generated from the rapidly expanding city -- in geographical spread and in population number.
It is not possible for a common
citizen to imagine the nature of garbage that Bhandewadi is dumped with on a daily basis -- day in and day out, in the day and in the night. The garbage collection and dumping
system is operating the year round -- no matter the holidays, no matter
the sun and rain and cold. It is not possible to heap uncalled for
criticism on the city’s garbage
collection system. It does a lot of good work, no doubt.
Yet, to say the other part of the truth as well, this garbage collection and disposal system works at only partial efficiency -- and wholesome apathy or indifference (as if that is nobody’s baby, as if there is nobody to ask questions).
That is the grief !
The grief is also about the
near-total absence of urgency or immediacy of the civic authority
and political leadership to find a
permanent solution to the
burgeoning mountains of garbage
in Bhandewadi. For years, hollow promises get rained on the city --
but with nothing by sway of serious implementation.
So, Bhandewadi keeps getting worse -- because there is no efficient tackling of the issue by anybody -- the political leadership, the
administrative system, the elite bureaucracy whose members
parachute down on the city at
regular intervals, stay here to enjoy
all facilities and privileges, get
occasionally admonished as well by the people and media, and then leave for their next posting.
So, Bhandewadi -- for the current instance -- continues to be the sane, neglected almost purposefully.
Of course, the city’s political
leadership has a way of tackling
such issues -- if they get very bad in public opinion. In that case, one of the politicians rises and declares that the the Municipal Corporation and the Maharashtra Government are looking for another site to have a
new garbage dump yard so that Bhandewadi could be spared from pressure and bad reputation.
When such an announcement comes, unsuspecting common
people feel elated that some positive development is taking place.
To such cunning, foxy politicians, the loosefooter has one question to ask: Can you guarantee Sir (or Madam) that the new spot would never get as hopelessly bad as Bhandewadi. And to such probing, prying questions, the politician and his chamchaas offer no response -- killing a genuine query by utter
neglect.
That is the story of Bhandewadi in the nutshell.