Bengaluru intensifies its fight for a cleanliness

Bengaluru, Feb 28: Bengaluru is increasingly turning from a Garden City to a Garbage City, agonising its proud residents, but the authorities seem to be little bothered. The Karnataka government has been seen making tall claims about dealing with the garbage crisis but little effect is being witnessed on the ground.

The garbage crisis in the city has only become big as the population is skyrocketing and with the international media too taking the issue seriously, Namma Bengaluru's reputation has come under even a bigger threat.

So, with those who can do it refusing to do the job seriously, can Bengalureans expect to see better days ahead?

But what is stopping Bengaluru from achieving cleanliness?

Inferior trash management system and lack of proper long-term plan has made Bengaluru suffer. According to a report published by The Hindu, Bengaluru's per capita solid waste generation is around half-a-kilogram. The city generates around 5,000 tonnes of garbage a day and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike employs 14,000 civic personnel to deal with it.

In 2014, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah flagged off Kasa Muktha Bengaluru (garbage-free Bengaluru) scheme but it didn't prove adequate. Reports said the scheme remains more confined to papers as the procedure is not carried out as per the norms.

The trash management system has also found a major obstruction from the people of Mandur village in Bengaluru South Taluka who protested against the BBMP authorities for dumping garbage in their place which is known to be the city's biggest dumping ground. The villagers also stopped the garbage-carrying trucks. They were protesting because the piling up garbage caused inconvenience to their living.

The poor garbage management system has caused to mixing of solid and liquid waste and polluting of ground water, said another report.

The garbage crisis of Bengaluru has earned a huge attention against the backdrop of the Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan and the common citizens have taken up the matter more intensely than ever so that Bengaluru, a city with global exposure, doesn't lose its face.

Badrinath Vittal, one such citizen of the city, has come up with a new initiative to raise awareness of cleanliness. He has launched an online petition procedure to be submitted to the chief authorities and the state government. The petition allows each and every citizen of Bengaluru to raise voice against the snowballing garbage crisis. The petition has been receiving good response as well.

Vittal said there are examples of cities overcoming this problem. "With the collective action of just a fraction of its citizens, there are towns, cities which have said "Yes, we can!"," he said.

If everybody else can, why can't Bengaluru?

Oneindia News