Trade hub needs a thorough clean-up

A cylinder blast in a house in Wilson Garden and a fire caused by a short circuit in a house-cum-godown in Thigalarapet consumed eight precious lives in the city last week. While the death toll rose to three in the cylinder blast case which happened on August 15, five persons belonging to a single business family perished in the godown fire at Thigalarapet. Several homes had their roofs blown away in the working class locality in Wilson Garden while the Fire Force had hellish time entering the busy and cluttered Thigalarapet area.

The two incidents signal how hellish life has turned for ordinary folk in the city in the wake of congestion and dearth of basic amenities. If explosion of a gas cylinder in a small home were to cause destruction of homes of several families living in cheek by jowl tenements, the quality of life in the city should be only a matter of concern. By the same token, the accounts available from the Fire Force personnel point to the hindrance their personnel faced in approaching the godown on fire in the dead of night. The maze of hanging wires, the narrow streets parked with vehicles and godowns packed with combustible goods are not unique to Thigalarapet alone. The city’s central business hub of Chikpet, Nagarathpet, Balepet and other surrounding localities have turned into a mess that constitutes a huge challenge for the civic authorities in ensuring safety as well as sanitation.   

Over the years, the roads and streets radiating from KR Market have turned into a slushy, slippery trade hub, littered by vehicles, and an all-pervasive stench rising from mountains of garbage dumps that can challenge the best of disposal machinery. An awful stench rises from organic and inorganic waste disposed off in every conceivable spot and corner. The situation is not the result of any recent negligence. Every new mayor has had its own quota of assurances to clean up the place. But to no avail. Almost every building has floors constructed in violation of zonal regulations. Eight to nine-storey high structures stand on as little as 20 ft by 30 ft plots with unauthorised water and power connections.

Waste disposal is rendered ineffective with homes, stores, slaughter houses, flower and vegetable shops discarding enormous amount of packaging material and organic stuff on a daily basis. Sanitary ducts run choked. Ordinary rains can turn the roads into pools of slush. A variety of wires, fibres, festoons and buntings add to the confusion thereby obstructing the entry of vehicles as well as garbage and maintenance vans. Amid all the chaos, cattle and dogs have a happy reign finding a menu of their choice.

The trade hub needs a thorough clean-up. The civic authorities should no longer throw hands in despair. The historic market needs to be restored to its former glory. The authorities need to come up with plans to shift out major businesses and should come down heavily on buildings that violate zonal norms. While two of the building owners have been arrested for neglecting fire safety norms in Thigalarpet, such tragedies are just waiting to happen anywhere and everywhere as almost all structures have raised unauthorised floors and godown store flammable stuff.