Ulsoor: Dhobi ghat by day and bar by night

BANGALORE: The two-acre dhobi ghat in Ulsoor caters to the needs of washermen, who wash dirty clothes during the day and drunkards from a nearby slum in the night. The drunkards even spread the clothes left for drying on the floor to sit on and empty  liquor bottles.Around 80 washermen families depend on the Ulsoor dhobi ghat to wash clothes and earn a living. But inadequate measures to protect the ghat allows miscreants to misuse the area. It is alleged that some washermen complained to the police, but in vain. “This ghat has two entries. If the police enter this place from one entry, the miscreants escape through another. We have been requesting the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to close one of the points but no action has been taken,” says T Kumar, a washerman.The BBMP is yet to construct a portion of the compound wall that collapsed during the monsoon. This collapsed portion is a third entry point for miscreants. The dilapidated shelter can be considered as a classic example of the BBMP’s negligence to redress the grievances of the washermen. There is no toilet facility for washerwomen. “We have been facing a lot of problems due to the lack of toilet facility. We can’t even enter the existing toilets, forget about using them,” complains Lakshmi, a washerwoman.Earlier, the BBMP supplied water from the Ulsoor Lake. But, the facility was withdrawn following theft of the water pump.Monsoon is the toughest time of the year for them. One light shower inundates the ghat with rain water. “The open drain is a problem. The water overflows during the monsoon. The stench and the dirty water makes our lives  miserable,” says another washerman.The washermen from Ulsoor, Shivajinagar, Cox Town, Lakshmipura and Jogupalya use the Ulsoor dhobi ghat to wash clothes. Efforts to construct two more sheds to meet the demand  too has failed. “We adjust with the facilities available here. For example, we work in shifts to accommodate all 80 families in a day,” explains Kumar.A proposal to construct houses for the washermen on the ghat premises was sent to the Slum Clearance Board more than a decade ago but it still remains on paper. “The have promised to construct houses here but nothing has happened till now,” says A Krishna, joint secretary, Bharath Karnataka Madiwalara Sangha.There is no dearth of encroachment here. A few people use one corner as a stable for horses while one family has put up a shed to accommodate goats. “The slum-dwellers use this place to dump garbage. They threaten us if we object to their throwing garbage here,” says Krishna.R Uday Kumar, corporator, says that a proposal has been sent to the BBMP to take up various development works at the dhobi ghat. “We are waiting for the BBMP to sanction funds. The development works will be taken up as soon as the BBMP sanctions  the funds,” he says.