Bangalore's health crisis

 Earlier this month, I had written about Bangalore's garbage crisis, among other things, and about Bangalore's civic authority(the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Pallike, or BBMP) and it's much ballyhooed drive to segregate wet, dry, recyclable and toxic trash which it claimed was the solution to the crisis. I had opined that the net result, given the fundamental incompetence of the BBMP, would be the accumulation of uncollected piles of segregated trash all over the city. Three weeks into the BBMP's segregation drive, that is in fact what has happened, with upward of 20,000 tons of rotting trash piling up all over the city and further clogging the inadequate drains.

This remains as common a sight as ever, post-segregation

 The inevitable consequence of refuse lying about the streets is a deterioration in the health environment. That has manifested itself already with a significant rise in mosquito, rat and fly-borne diseases in and around the city. An avian flu epidemic has broken out on a government-run turkey farm on the outskirts of the city, with a ban on all poultry products from farms within a 1 kilometer radius, possibly being escalated to a 10 km. radius. With segregated trash laying around, dogs, cats, birds and rats are feeding better than ever, not having to burrow through mixed trash to find food. This carries with it the probability of bird and flea-borne epidemics, such as the plague that hit Surat, being imminent. Heavy rain could further aggravate the health situation by polluting the water supply and spreading out the disease vectors. With no urgency on the part of the BBMP, this is turning into a rapidly escalating health crisis of epidemic proportions, and if serious steps are not taken in the next few weeks, Bangalore very well could see itself being quarantined. This is a serious, serious crisis.

 I am amazed that there is no action on the part of either the state government or the central(federal) government to contain this incipient crisis. One would be hard-pressed to find another part of the world with such apathy on the part of government or the people when faced with a major developing health crisis. Is this lassitude an Indian cultural trait? Indians come out in militant multitudes at the least hint of religious insult, but when faced with lethal crises far more important and urgent, they seem to lapse into torpor. This is a crisis that demands that political differences be set aside, and the state and federal governments attack this situation on an emergency basis. Not merely because millions of people are at risk, but also because Bangalore is the center of India's IT industry, contributing a third of India's substantial IT/ITES exports. The outcome of this crisis could very well determine if it deals a crippling blow to this industry and, longer-term, to the country's competitiveness and desirability as an outsourcing destination. Hundreds of billions of dollars hinge on how this developing crisis is handled. If nothing else, that alone should have moved government to action.

 Finally, I believe the BBMP has to be thoroughly cleansed of its thoroughly incompetent, inefficient and corrupt offices, and capable replacements brought in. This is an organization which has proven its unworthiness since inception. I am inclined to use much harsher language, such is my exasperation at the way I see this incredible joke of a civic authority function. Even over the past year alone, Bangalore has become a markedly filthier city. Have we come to the point of indifference where only a plague can spur decisive action?

Updates:
 Bangalore is doing its bit to celebrate the upcoming Year of the Snake: Snakes feast on garbage rats

The BBMP is now imposing fines on businesses and homes with standing water which potentially provide breeding spots for dengue-carrying mosquitos. Apparently, the BBMP believes that its own rivers of raw, stinking sewage are unattractive to egg-laying mosquitos. Like an armed robber denouncing pickpockets.

Half a million idols, many with toxic paint, dumped in Bangalore's lakes.

All of India remains apathetic toward the filth which surrounds human habitation. And yet I encounter people who insist that it is well on the way to becoming a "superpower"!