Ejipura slum dwellers use kerosene for cooking purposes as they are too poor to afford an LPG connection.
BANGALORE (Dec. 2)—Allah Bakash is 59, though his long white beard and tired eyes could easily convince someone that he is in his late 60s or early 70s.
Originally from Bangladesh, Bakash came to Bangalore 20 years back in hope for a better future. He is one of the million immigrants in Bangalore.
He slept on the streets, did odd jobs to earn his daily bread, living like a tramp for years. For the last 10 years he has been working under a Mr. Jayaram as a laborer for his goods-carriage business.
Jayaram owns four trucks that move around the city carrying sand, cement and granite. Bangalore has innumerable such Jayarams who are involved in the heavy goods transport business.
While on the one side poor people like Bakash survive on the little money they earn and as the truck owners do good business, the condition of the city’s streets worsens with every passing day.
Heavily loaded trucks create potholes, often large enough to cause fatal accidents. These vehicles are all over the city streets, any time of the day, causing a huge commotion on the roads.
“Trucks are not allowed to ply on the streets of Bangalore between 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 pm,” says Mr. Saleem, additional commissioner of traffic police, Karnataka.
But who cares? Like every other rule in the city, this one isn’t followed either.
As immigrants like Bakash pray for bigger and better contracts each day, the streets of the city suffer and so do the commuters.
