Bengaluru's garbage turns men into bachelors
- Men from Mandur village in Bengaluru are not finding brides
- Tagged as garbage village, Mandur is a breeding place for mosquitoes and flies
- Measures to rehabilitate Mandur residents will be taken says Mayor Padmavathi
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Continuous dumping of Bengaluru’s waste into Mandur has turned the village into a breeding place of diseases. The men living in the village are not left with many options but to marry their neighbours.
The government had stopped dumping of waste in Mandur in 2013, after violent protests by the residents and promised to clear the place of all garbage scientifically in phases within three years. The waste was being dumped there from 2008.
The ill-fated village is just one kilometre away from the dumping yard and people have to shut their doors, windows and use mosquito net day in and day out to keep the flies and mosquitoes away.
This issue was serious two years ago and even now, parents find it difficult to find a bride for their sons. “It is not easy to convince the parents of brides. The fear of suffering from various health issues in Mandur has made many shut their doors on us, they say.
Trimurthy, a resident of Mandur, said that he was rejected four times for by bride's parents for residing in Manduru. I have struggled to find a perfect match for five years. My parents had been to a girl's house in Devanahalli. Everything seemed fine between both the families and we returned hoping to fix marriage date. But just a day later, they rejected our proposal as they did not want to send their daughter to the village filled with garbage. Finally, I had to get marries to one of my close relatives."
Mandur Gram Panchayat President, Janardhan Gowda echoed similar sentiments. “We were scared to tell them that we are residents of Mandur. Since people from other villages are not ready to marry their daughters with a man from Mandur, we had to search for a bride within our family ties."
The Mandur Gram Panchayat consists of 13 villages and has more than 10,000 people.
Mayor G Padmavathi, who was approached to look into the issues of Mandur says that she had recently visited another landfill and will soon visit Mandur. "As promised by the BBMP and the government, we will take measures to rehabilitate Mandur residents. The waste lying in Mandur will be disposed scientifically, and tenders have been called for the same," she said.
