Cooke Town Residents Raise Alarm Over Garbage and Animal Carcass on SWR Land

Residents of Hutchins Road in Cooke Town have raised severe health and sanitation concerns after a vacant plot owned by the South Western Railway (SWR) turned into an illegal waste dumping spot, culminating in the discovery of a cow carcass on Wednesday morning. The vacant land extends from the Banaswadi Railway Station platform towards 6th Cross on Hutchins Road.

Despite ongoing cleanup initiatives by SWR and the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) along railway tracks, nearby residents reported that this specific yard has been consistently neglected. The plot has reportedly been used for dumping garbage and burning waste on a regular basis.

Local residents stated that miscreants recently set fire to heaps of trash at the site. While a Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML) engineer took steps to clear the debris following complaints, garbage quickly accumulated once again. Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy, an advocate residing adjacent to the railway land, said the situation reached a breaking point with the discovery of the rotting carcass on Wednesday.

Albert R, president of the Cooke Town Nivasigala Sangha, explained that a wire mesh fence installed by SWR engineers near the railway underpass was damaged within days of setup. He suspected the cow entered the property through a gaping hole in the broken fence and called on authorities to remove the carcass immediately before it creates further health risks for nearby households.

Demanding a permanent solution, Albert urged SWR officials to construct a sturdy concrete wall around the land rather than relying on wire mesh. He noted that while SWR staff are not dumping the waste themselves, the lack of secure boundaries allows irresponsible citizens to throw garbage that eventually spills onto the public road.

Zafar Sait, a long-time resident of neighboring Richards Town, pointed out that Greater Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda had instructed private plot owners to keep their properties clean, emphasizing that public entities like the railways must be held to the same standard. Sait added that the breached fence has also led to people using the open space for public urination.

Addressing the complaints, SWR (Dharmapuri) Senior Section Engineer Vinay Kumar stated that he would direct his subordinates and the railway police to inspect the location and resolve the issue.