JC Nagar school complex footpath strewn with waste near garbage trucks

A half-kilometre footpath beside a government school complex on CIL Road in JC Nagar is lined with garbage bags, used mattresses and other waste, leaving children to navigate the stretch on their way to class.

The complex near the Parachute Regiment Training Centre includes Urdu-, Kannada- and Tamil-medium government schools and a pre-university college. Ayesha, the in-charge headmistress of the Urdu school, said two garbage trucks had been parked nearby almost every day for the past year and leachate was leaking from them. Staff close doors and windows during lessons because of the smell, including when mid-day meals are served, she said.

Shobha, principal of the pre-university college, said the waste includes old furniture, clothes, food, sanitary pads and plastic bags. Rats have entered classrooms and her office, damaging books and documents, she said. A Class VI student said mosquitoes and rats had increased and that walking on the footpath had become difficult.

Bengaluru North City Corporation Commissioner Pommala Sunil Kumar said the corporation would examine the issue and clear the garbage soon.