The issue of mandatory segregation of garbage at source from October 1 has been keeping the officials of BBMP on tenterhooks. Of late, many initiatives have been taken by BBMP to popularise the segregation of waste at source generating awareness among public. But, it is also creating confusion among authorities.
Since September 17, all corporators, environment and health officers are being shown documentaries pertaining to segregation of waste at source by a non-profit organisation. However, as far as training of the pourakarmikas are concerned, the less said the better as there seems to be a lot of confusion among the corporators and the Joint Commissioners as to who will provide the training. On a positive note, many NGOs and residents welfare associations have come forward and taken interest in providing a helping hand to the BBMP.
On the other hand, BBMP Commissioner, Rajneesh Goel is very optimistic of turning around the present mess in garbage disposal. He said, “I am constantly conducting meets with the corporators, zonal officers and private agencies regarding door-to door awareness on separating the waste and other related initiatives. We need to train the pourakarmikas and there are a lot of other things in my mind that I want to implement. In a week’s time, we will show the kind of service we can provide to the people of Bangalore.” The Joint Commissioner of East, KC Shivashnakar informed City Express, “Corporators, environmental officers and health officers have been shown lot of films and video on garbage segregation. They, in turn, are responsible for training the pourakarmikas on issues like collecting and handling segregated waste, etc.”
Meanwhile, Mayor Venkatesh Murthy claims that the training for the pourakarmikas has already started in a few places on September 17. He said, “Day by day, we will conduct the ward wise training as per their sub-divisions. However, the joint commissioners are responsible for looking into their training.”
Indeed, a few corporators have started implementing segregation of waste at source. Corporator of Konena Agrahara, M Chandrappa Reddy is one such person, who said, “We have distributed pamphlets and two dust bins in BDA Layout. The residents of BDA Layout have started segregating the waste into dry and wet. We have also started collecting it. Gradually, I will extend the programme to other localities as well.”
However, he lamented the lack of pourakarmika strength in his ward. When we quizzed him on the training of the pourakarmikas in his ward, he said, “The zonal officers are responsible for it.”