‘Suraj Holidays’ Tourist Bus Crew Turn Kadri Park Road into Make-Shift Garbage Dump
Mangaluru: Imagine a tourist bus firm “Suraj Holidays” based in Wilson Garden, Bengaluru and recognized by Department of Tourism, Government of Karnataka creating a menace by dumping all the garbage created by the passengers inside the bus, on the side of the Kadri Park road, every single morning of the week, after the buses are parked along the road side after their night journey from Bengaluru to Mangaluru. And this has been going on for a long time, but no officials from the Mangaluru City Corporation, nor police department, and even the district Administration has taken action. Daily hundreds of morning and evening walkers take this stretch of Kadri Park Rd for their exercises, but no one had taken the initiative of complaining about the garbage menace created by the crew of these buses, either to MCC or other concerned authorities.
Tired of waiting for civic officials to take cognizance of the pile of garbage problem in this locality, this morning, the members of a walk group who call themselves as “Walkomaniacs” comprising of doctors, engineers, builders, entrepreneurs and other professionals took the baton in their own hands and complained to the Kadri East Police station, and even confronted the bus crew and made them clean the mess that they had made in that area- with a firm determination to stop these ignorant bus drivers, conductors and cleaners dumping waste from their respective buses in the Kadri Park locality.
Apart from these employees of Suraj Holidays bus company who are responsible for dumping waste around the locality where they park their buses, there is also garbage scattered here and there by night revelers, who also throw away empty liquor bottles, empty snack wrappers/boxes, plastic bottles etc etc. And the sad part is that most of these revelers are either educated or rich- who don’t give a damn about cleanliness in the City. And one elderly person who walks on this stretch of the street said the locality has three major black spots where people dump garbage at night, and also these bus employees in the morning. “I tried to reach out to MCC and the local health inspector, but no action was taken on my complaints. I am happy at least a bevy of walkers of Walkomaniacs and also Team Mangalorean have taken bold steps in stopping this garbage menace here”.
This morning Team Mangalorean noted that garbage from these buses with registration No’s – KA 01 AD 6739, KA 51 AB 7777, KA 51 D 4545, KA 51 AA 4366, KA 01 AD 6769 and KA 01 AE 7765, was dumped along the side walls and the nearby vicinity on the Kadri Park Road stretch, where all these buses park early in the morning. When Team Mangalorean received a call from a member of Walkomaniacs, we did the needful in highlighting this issue to bring awareness among these bus employees of Suraj Holidays, and also others who abuse Swachhata of Mangaluru.
Speaking to Team Mangalorean-Dr Sachidanada Rai -President of Indian Medical Association (Mangaluru) and Dr Nagraj Shetty- Dept of General Medicine at A J Hospital ( and both members of Walkomaniacs) said, “Enough is enough, we could not bear with this any more, so we took action today by complaining about the garbage menace created by these bus employees to the police station, and also requested the bus employees to pick up the waste and dispose it off at a proper garbage dump. We also request the police not to allow these buses to park along the footpath, which makes us hard to walk. Because of the unhygienic conditions of the stinking waste around the area, we took the initiative in seeing that such nuisance is not committed again. The police have agreed to look into the matter, and also the bus employees have agreed to rectify their mistakes. Hoping for suitable results from both the police department and bus company”.
And also to talk about safety issue- the entire one bottom portion of the bus where the passengers luggage are loaded, has been made into a make-shift kitchen corner, where food stuff is stocked, and also cooking is done using a Kerosene stove. (see pics in the report) Imagine in the case of this stove explosion due to some fault, the whole bus would be up in flames. Does the company care about the safety of their employees. Another safety hazard is that, the bus drivers of all these six buses who drive all night long for nearly 8-9 hours from Bangaluru-Mnagaluru- and after reaching Mangaluru, they are made to drive the buses to take the cruise ship passengers that arrive at NMPT- and the sight seeing last until evening.
So just imagine how many hours the bus drivers could take a nap, before they get behind the wheel of the buses at night, once again for the journey from Mangaluru to Bengaluru. When the safety of the bus passengers rely on the bus drivers, just imagine these drivers with no proper sleep, doing double shift putting the lives of commuters in danger. A small dozing by these sleepless while driving could result in a fatal accident. But does anyone care about the lives of the passengers, and also the lives of the drivers.
While welcoming the initiative taken by this walk group when it comes to Swachata of Mangaluru, but this will not be the only solution to the garbage problem. There needs to be action on the ground by the authorities concerned also. If the vigil by walkers or citizens stops, the problem will restart. We need a permanent solution. Not just members of Walkomaniacs, everyone needs to keep a vigil as to what’s happening illegally in and around Kadri Park. This is not happening. If the litterers or violators are made accountable, the problem of dumping waste or illegal activities can be controlled.
Just a suggestion, if you see any people throwing garbage right in front of your eyes, go and pick it up and throw it to somewhere appropriate place for the garbage like a dustbin. Everything has to be done right in front of the culprits eyes. Let them see and realize their mistakes. This makes them feel ashamed and they at that very moment might try to ignore the scenario but the very night when they’re on their beds, they’ll gonna think back and hit their own forehead on the wall.
Also keep complaining to the concerned officials for cleaning garbage in your locality. Keep them awake with repeated calls if they don’t hear. We all know health is our main priority. Even as residents of this Education City and also Smart City, who once took pride as Kudla was one among the Top-10 list of India’s cleanest cities, but unfortunately, Mangaloreans habits have not changed when it comes to littering- tonnes of garbage, plastic waste, vegetable and fruit waste, metal parts of vehicles, seats and cushions, animal waste, construction debris, waste household furniture are daily being dumped at different city roads.
Dumping of wastes on City road has to be stopped as they are posing a threat to the neighbourhood with schools, colleges and hospitals around. While the cops are towing two-wheelers of common people and minting money, have they taken any action or preventive measures about the parking of buses at various locations in the City, including a bunch of tourist buses parked on the highway near KPT going towards Panambur side. Stern action should be taken against those who litter, if not Swachh Bharath or Swachh Mangaluru will not see the light of the day-nor will it make PM Narendra Modi’s dream come true. While appreciating the efforts and initiative taken by the “Walkomaniacs” group, let us all follow in their footsteps and stop those who litter, and Let’s together make our city clean, our country clean. Thank You!
