New Delhi: The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) has launched an initiative ‘Kasa Suriyuva Habba’, or ‘Garbage dumping festival’, in a bid to put a stop to trash dumping in public spaces.
Under this tough love initiative, those caught throwing garbage in public places will have piles of waste dumped right outside their homes. They will also have to pay a fine.
The initiative’s Thursday launch saw waste deliberately dumped in front of 218 households, and Rs 2.8 lakh collected in fines, according to a statement issued by Kare Gowda, chief executive officer of Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML), quoted by PTI.
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But Bengaluru’s garbage problem isn’t all that simple. Earlier this month, ThePrint had reported how even Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar has expressed his helplessness in finding an effective waste management solution due to the iron grip of the “garbage mafia” on India’s IT capital.
The waste management sector is valued at several hundred crores annually.
ThePrint had spoken to political leaders and civic workers who explained that each time the government tries to tighten its grip or take back control of waste management, the workers are forced to go on strike, leaving the city in a stinking mess. The government then buckles under pressure and criticism from the larger public, returning to the lobby to clear the mess.
With a population of around 14 million people, Bengaluru generates around 3,500 metric tons (mt) of solid waste everyday. There are nearly 3 million households in the city and around 18,500 pourakarmikas, or civic workers, working with the erstwhile civic body, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).